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MEMOIRS 



OF 



PRINCE EUGENE 



OF 



SAVOY; 



'w 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 



TRANSLATED 

FROM THE GENUINE FRENCH EDITION, 

• OBTAINING ALT. THOSE PASSAGES WHICH HAVE SINCE 

BEEN SUPPRESSED BY ORDER OF THE 

FRENCH GOVERNMENT. 



BY FREDERIC SUOBERL. 



EMBELLISHED WITH A PORTRAIT. &C. 



L X D O.N : 

PRINTED FOR HENRY COLBURN, 

BH G L 1 8 H A .v I) PO ft EI G N PUBLIC LIBRAR Y 
SOBDUIT-fTBElTj HEW BOND-STREET. 



1811 



. E ? L 



B.Yft . 

1 Q d'60 



B. Clarke, Printer, Well-Street, Lomlon. 



ADVERTISEMENT 



The original of the work here presented to the 
public, first appeared at Weymar, in j809. It was 
aiterwards reprinted at Paris, where considerable 
pains were taken to correct numerous errors in the 
names and punctuation, and it is from one of these 
improved copies that the present translation has been 
made. Another edition ) is since been published in 
I ranee, but with the omission of various passages 
which probably appeared obnoxious to the govern- 
ment of that country. All these passages will be found 
in the following sheets, which the reader may be as- 
sured contain a faithful version of the entire work, 
without abridgment or mutilation. 

On the merits of this singular production of a man, 
whose history for a lon^ period is interwoven with 
that of all Europe, it is unnecessary to oiler any com- 
ment, after ihc opinion which has been given by the 
ablest of our critical Reviewers. " Weare admitted, 
in these memoirs,"' says the Edinburgh Review*, 
into the confidence of a statesman* and hero, with 
whose life a v: ry important period of our hislory is 
clow !y connected. We are instructed by the candid 
recitals of a powerful mind, viewing every object in 
a great and masterly style ; disclosing tie mos< secret 
causes or events ; simplifying the apparent mysteries 
of Court intrigues ; doing justice to neglected or in- 
jured merit ; and throwing the broad light of genius 
over the obscur st parts of his career. 

* No. XXXIII. p. 40. 
A 2 



IV ADVERTISEMENT. 

" We are particularly struck, in this work, with 
the candor and warmth of heart displayed by Prince 
Eugene, in speaking of the French generals to whom 
he was opposed, and by the simplicity with which 
he relates his own actions, as well as the severity 
with which he judges his own mistakes. It is in this 
respect, perhaps, that we feel the strongest and the 
most humiliating contrast to the habits of modern 
times, when, instead of this chivalrous tone of mag- 
nanimity, modesty, and candor, we meet with no- 
thing, even in the narratives of great commanders, 
but specimens of that vulgar, boasting, and degrad- 
ing rancor, which used to be the characteristic of 
the lowest of the people. Of his friends and col* 
leagues the Prince generally writes, or rather speaks, 
with enthusiasm : for he appears to have dictated the 
greater part of the book to a secretary, in conse- 
quence of which, perhaps, it has all the ease and 
poignancy of private conversation. We consider it, 
indeed, as a treasure of anecdote, 

u The work bears internal marks of authenticity. 
It is written with great brevity, great carelessness, 
and great vivacity — in a tone of levity and occasional 
hardheartedness, that marks the man of the world— 
and with so much of the gay, familiar, and sarcastic 
manner of the genuine French wits, as frequently to 
re nind us of the brilliant Memoires de Grammont.' , 

li may not be amiss to remark that the publisher 
has spared no pains to render this work worthy of a 
place in every library. The portrait of the ill us— 
trious author and the fac-simile of his hand-writing, 
cannot fail to prove a pleasing accompaniment, and 
to distinguish this as the only genuine edition. 



PREFACE 



TO THE JVEYMAR EDITION. 



Whoever has been acquainted with 
Vienna must know that the Count de Canales 
resided in that city, near thirty years, as the 
minister of the King of Sardinia. One of his 
daughters is there married to the Count de 
Hardegg, grand-huntsman, and one or two 
others are canonesses. In the interval which 
followed the death of Prince Eugene, and 
preceded the coming of the Count de Canales, 
the prince's niece and heiress, married to the 
Prince of HilJburghausen, possessed an ex- 
cellent house, and kept a kind of little court 
in the prince's garden, now known hy the 
appellation of the Belvidere. There the 
Count de Canales was introduced the day 
after his arrival ; she soon became attached 
to him, not only aa the minister of the king, 
her cousin, but also as a very agreeable and 



VI PREFACE. 

well-informed man. The Memoirs of Prince 
Eugene were yet fresh ; he circulated in 
society many of the expressions, sarcasms, and 
anecdotes contained in them. 

The Count de Canales was a great collec- 
tor. An editor of that class who at the present 
day impose upon the living pretended relics of 
the dead, would have abundant opportunity 
to make the latter say whatever he pleased. 
I know not whether the Count de Canales 
committed to writing what he learned from 
very recent tradition ; but nothing of the sort 
was found among his papers. It was among 
those of another person, that what is here 
presented to the public was discovered, and in 
the following manner. 

The Princess of Hildburghausen, after re- 
lating a great deal concerning her uncle, said 
to him: — <f As to his military transactions, 
you must excuse me; but here is a short 
sketch of them, written partly by the hand of 
the prince himself, between his last campaign 
and his death, Do not keep it ; read it with 
attention, and then return it to me," 



PREFACE. Vll 

I imagine that the Count de Canales was 
in no great hurry ; at least so much is certain 
that the manuscript was still in his hands when 
the princess died, I believe in 1752 or 1753. 

It was not thought of for a great length of 
time. Count O'Donel, general of cavalry, 
and uncle, after the fashion of Bretagne, to 
the Count O'Donel, who is at present at 
Vienna, told me that he had read it. 

For upwards of twenty years the Count de 
Canales passed all his evenings with the cele- 
brated Metastasio and the Baron de Hagen, 
who died president of the Aulic Council, 
seven or eight years ago. Sometimes the 
graver classics were the subjects of their con- 
versation ; sometimes they culled the lighter 
beauties of the language and literature of 
every nation. 

The Abbe Guasco, a friend of Montes- 
quieu's,, was admitted as a Piedmontese and a 
man of letters to the evening parties of the 
Count de Canales, whenever he returned from 
Paris or Tournay, where he had a canonry. 



VlU PREFACE. 

One day when all four were on the subject of 
history, Prince Eugene happened to be men- 
tioned. ce Here/' said the Count de Canales, 
"is what I have collected respecting his 
private and military life; you shall hear it, 
but you must not carry it away. I will not 
give you the prince in robe de chambre ; but I 
am desirous to shew him to you in helmet and 
armour/' continued he, turning to the Abbe 
de Guasco, " for the instruction of vour 
brother : he ought to study him ; he will have 
occasion for it, since he has just been appoint- 
ed quarter-master general of Marshal Daun's 
army." — This conversation must consequently 
have taken place in the month of February, 
1757. 

Many people still living can attest the ac- 
curacy of what I am advancing, and especially 
that of the dates, on which point I am particu- 
larly scrupulous. To one I venture to appeal^ 
if he be yet alive, as I hope, for two years ago 
he was recovering from a severe illness at 
Moron, a small town in Tyrol, whither, driven 
from Italy, I, unhappy emigrant, repaired with 
my slender baggage. Should he be dead, 



PREFACE. IX 

his daughter is not ; she was promised the ap- 
pointment of canoness at Halle. She will not 
refuse to certify the truth of what I say ; for 
she was present at my conversations with her 
venerable father, aged ninety two, M. de 
Ferraris, major on half pay, formerly aid-de- 
camp to the Count de Guasco, general of 
infantry. 

The reader will begin to trace the descent of 
the work which I have printed, and to perceive 
in what manner it has found its way before the 
public. Want of money on my part, the 
curiosity of an old soldier, gratitude for my 
attentions on his part, and the indifference of 
a dying man to all that is passing around him : 
this it was that procured me this magnificent 
present, which he made mc with a voice 
scarcelv audible. Besides, nothing was to 
be sold in a little town of the Tyrol; there 
are no buyers. The kind M. de Ferraris 
gave or suffered those around him to take 
what they pleased. Some of his old friends, 
half-pay officers like himself, took possession 
of his books ; an Austrian general employed 
at Inspruck of his m^ps ; and I, though I 



X PREFACE. 

never expect to have armies to command, fell 
upon a manuscript whose title rendered it 
valuable to me. The letters are made long and 
narrow in this manuscript, the authenticity of 
which may he ascertained by comparing it with 
his signature at the Aulic Council of war, at 
Vienna, of which a copy is subjoined. It is 
very remarkable that the German character 
and orthography were both unknown to him, 
and that he signed his name in three different 
languages. It was in this manner, which I 
defy any person whatsoever to disprove. 




udCr 




PREFACE. XI 

For the rest, it is only the conversations 
which he had with different persons, the 
reflections, and the last year that are in his 
hand writing. He appears to have dictated 
the rest to a secretary. 

This Major Ferraris was a man of great 
merit ; he possessed the confidence of his 
general, whose dangers he shared, and whose 
operations he seconded at the siege of Schweid- 
nitz in 1762. He contributed the more to- 
wards it, as he frequently reconciled the dif- 
ferences that took place between M. de Guasco 
and M de Gribeauval, a celebrated French 
engineer — differences which invariably occur 
between officers whose authority is not ac- 
curately determined ; and he inherited all 
the plans and books belonging to his general ; 
on his death as a prisoner, a year or two 
afterwards I believe, at Konigsberg. Hav- 
ing become possessed of this manuscript, I 
put into the hands of George Conrad Wald- 
burg, printer and bookseller at Klagenfurt, 
where the curious may examine the hand- 
writing of Prince Eugene, and thus have aa 



Xll PREFACE. 

opportunity of ascertaining its authenticity. 
The following is a copy of his acknowledg- 
ment of the receipt of this valuable manu- 
script. 

€C I acknowledge with gratitude that Mon- 
sieur N , a French emigrant officer, has 

put this manuscript of Prince Eugene's into 
my possession. 

ft George Conrad Waldburg. 

iX Klagenfurt, January 1st, 1807." 

I know not whether some person in the 
chancery of the prince might not possibly 
have taken a copy of this excellent work, 
which may have furnished the outline of the 
history reprinted at Vienna, by Briffarst, in 
1777. I cannot tell what the author meant by 
this expression: CC I had an opportunity to 
avail myself of what was written by Prince 
Eugene in the German language." Did he 
intend to assert or to make people believe that 
the prince wrote in German ? I have shewn 
above that he was not sufficiently acquainted 



PREFACE. Xlll 

with the language for that. I think it was 
a Monsieur Lazzay, or a Monsieur Rousset, 
who was the author or printer of a history in 
fi\e volumes. 

In the style of the prince will be found a 
military air, which well accords with his 
physiognomy and his actions. Another ptoof 
of the authenticity of this manuscript is the 
garrulity of age which it exhibits ; repeti- 
tions which a professed author would have 
avoided, negligences which a man of letters 
would not have committed; in a word, there 
is no part of it but what betrays the military 
man. The tone which pervades it would be 
ill adapted to any other character, but may be 
allowed in a soldier, whose style is not always 
excellent, and sometimes too familiar. That 
of the prince, such as it is, is clear and concise ; 
so was also his conversation, as I have been 
told by the Prussian General Lentulus, who 
retired to Neufchatel, where he died at a very 
advanced age. He had served under him in 
his last campaign on the Rhine, whither he 
had accompanied the great Frederic, then 



XIV PREFACE. 

prince royal. Here is abundance of facts, 
dates, and names, which may he confronted ; 
my name alone shall not be made public. 



PREFACE 
OF PRINCE EUGENE. 



There are, as I have been told,, several 
Italian and German manuscripts concerning 
me, which I have neither read nor written. 
A fl atterer, whose name is Dumont, has 
printed a large folio volume, which is en- 
titled : j\Jy Buttles. This gentleman is ex- 
tremely bombastic ; he panegyrises me at 
the expence of Turenne, who according to him 
would have been iaken at Cremona in 1702, 
or killed at Hochstett in 1704, if he had been 
opposed to me. What stupid stuff! 

Some historians, good or bad, will take 
the trouble to enter into the details of my youth, 
of which I scarcely remember any thing. 
They will not fail to speak of my mother, a 
little too intriguing to be sure, driven from 
the court, exiled from Paris, and suspected, I 
believe, of witchcraft, by people who were 
no great conjurors. They will tell how I 
wa3 born in France, and how I left it burning 



XVI AUTHOR S PREFACE. 

with fury against Louis XIV. who had re- 
fused me a company of cavalry, because, he 
said, I had too weak a constitution ; and an 
abbey, because I pretended (on I know not what 
stories respecting me current in the gallery of 
Versailles ), that I was fitter for pleasure than 
for the church. No Huguenot expelled by 
the revocation of the edict of Nantes ever 
cherished a stronger hatred against him. 
When therefore Louvois, on hearing of my 
departure, said : " So much the better, he 
will not return to this country again," I 
vowed that I never would except as a con- 
quering enemy, and I kept my word. 

I have entered it on more sides than one ; 
and it was not my fault that I did not 
penetrate farther. But for the English, I 
should have given law in the capital of the 
grand monarque, and shut up his Maintenon 
in a convent for life. 



MEMOIRS 



OF 



PRINCE EUGENE 



1683. 

JSever was the court so dull as this year. 
I did wisely to leave it. This was the period 
of Louis the Fourteenth's devotion,, occasioned 
by the loss of his two sons, the Comte de 
Vexin and the Due dc Vermandois, Colhert, 
and the queen. 

His most Christian Majesty, who, previous 
to his being so religious, assisted the Christians 
in 1664 against the infidels, having now be- 
come eminently pious, excited them against 

B 



IS MEMOIRS OF 

the emperor, and encouraged the Hungarian 
rebels. But for him neither the one nor the 
other would have advanced to the gates of 
Vienna. That he might not appear to coun- 
tenance them, he durst not absolutely forbid 
the young princes of the blood to go and sig- 
nalize themselves in this war. I went with 
then*, weary of being called the little Abbe 
of Louis the Fourteenth. He was very fond 
of me. It was, perhaps, from motives of 
conscience that he had refused me the abbey. 
I was not desirous of shining either in the 
church or at court ; I was perfectly satisfied 
with my reception in society ; but I wished 
to distinguish myself in war. Accordingly at 
twenty I was in the service of Leopold the 
First, who knew nothing of the matter. He 
had fled from his capital., both at the siege 
and at the battle of Vienna. I thought at 
first sight that I should learn my business 
better about the person of the Duke of Lor-* 
raine, and Prince Louis of Baden, than with 
the two electors of Bavaria and Saxony. 
Both the former led me many a dance from 
one attack to another, and sent me with or- 
ders into the hottest places. 



PRINCE EUGENE. 19 

The Duke of Lorraine, I was told, em- 
ployed none but generals, in battle, to carry 
or even to change an order, if necessary. I 
was sensible of this honor, and he appeared 
satisfied with me. The confusion of that day 
can be but confusedly described. Sobiesky 
attended mass, with his arms crossed in the 
church of Leopoldsberg. The Poles who 
had clambered up thither, I know not why, 
went down again like madmen, and fought 
like lions. The Turks, encamped on the spot 
where I threw lines up in 1703, not know- 
ing which way to front, having neglected the 
eminences, behaved like idiots. 

The emperor returned ; I was presented to 
him. Not being yet familiarized with Ger- 
man manners, I was much amused with his 
haughty interview with the King of Poland. 
As a volunteer I was one of the foremost in 
the pursuit of the Turks. 

We lost no time ; and Kuffstein being dead, 

I was rewarded with his regiment of dragoons 

on the llth of December. Three months, to 

a day, after that signal victory, I was the hap- 

h 2 



20 MEMOIRS OF 

piest of men,, and was serving under the Duke 
of Lorraine. 



1684. 

Having with him taken Vicegrad, Gran, 
and Weitzen, and fought a glorious battle 
near the latter place, we had a still more im- 
portant engagement near the Island of St. An- 
drew. It is said that I made a very fine 
manoeuvre at the head of mj regiment, and 
that this put the Turks to the rout. They 
were cut to pieces without mercy. The Duke 
of Lorraine had secured his centre by a mo- 
rass, his left by the Danube, his right by an 
impassable mountain. 

We now laid siege to Buda. Many de- 
structive sallies were made by eighteen thou- 
sand men ; twelve thousand arrived, and waited 
for the coming up of twice or thrice that num- 
ber to attack us. The Duke made haste to 
beat them, and had the goodness to write to 
the emperor that I had contributed most to- 
wards it. Prince Louis of Baden was ready 
to eat me with caresses. 



PRINCE EUGENE. 2i 

The siege was pushed with vigor ; visiting 
the trenches by the side of the Prince of Salm, 
I there received my first wound from a ball 
through my arm. 

It was thought that a favorable moment for 
a general assault had arrived; it proved un- 
successful. The assailants were repulsed in 
every attack. Some altercation or other took 
place among the principal generals. This is 
often occasioned by the persons about them. 
Scandal finds its way into head-quarters as 
well as into ordinary society. At length, 
having lost thirty thousand men, the Duke of 
Lorraine raised the siege on the 1st of No- 
vember. 

At Vienna this furnished occasion for many 
animadversions and many absurdities. One 
supposed that our failure proceeded from the 
want of good engineers. No, said another, 
'tis owing to the malice of Guido Stahren- 
herg, against whose advice the siege was 
undertaken. A third asserted that it was the 
result of the mismanagement of the commis- 
sariat, or of the ministers in withholding 



22 MEMOIRS OF 

supplies of all necessaries from the besiegers, 
with a view to diminish the influence of tha 
Duke of Lorraine, of whom they were jea- 
lous. For my part, being yet a very insig- 
nificant person, and for that very reason in 
favor with everybody (which is no uncom- 
mon thing when one is very young), I re- 
tained the friendship of my two masters, 
Lorraine and Baden, though the latter fell 
out with the former, seconded by the elector, 
who was equally attached to me ; and I went 
to spend the winter at Vienna, where I ex- 
perienced the most flattering reception. 

1685. 

The marriage of an archduchess with the 
Elector of Bavaria retarded the opening of 
the campaign. A pretty reason, truly ! The 
Duke of Lorraine went to reconnoitre Novi- 
grad. The princes of the blood of France 
and Lorraine, and the volunteers of their re- 
tinue, arriving from Paris, joined the escort. 
Armed with their pistols, they provoked the 
spahis, and some French heads were cut off 



PRINCE EUGENE. 23 

by Turkish sabres. I rescued the others with 
my dragoons, whom I brought up just at the 
right time. Delighted with finding myself 
again in the company of all these young 
people, who were my old friends, and too 
young myself to scold, I found no fault with 
them, but the Duke of Lorraine took that 
upon himself. He reprehended them severely, 
at the same time approving in his heart the 
ardent and impetuous courage of his cousins, 
Commerci, and Thomas de Vaudemont, who 
afterwards served under me with such dis- 
tinction. 

The trenches had been opened a month 
before Neuhausel ; and just when an assault 
was about to be made on the covered way, 
we received intelligence that a seraskier had 
arrived with sixty thousand men, that he had 
retaken Vicegrad and besieged Gran. We 
marched thither, and he raised the siege on 
the approach of the Duke of Lorraine, who 
had left Caprara before Neuhausel. But 
observe what now happened. 



The seraskier thought fit to take an ex- 



24 MEMOIRS OF 

cellent position. The duke contrived to ac- 
quaint him, by means of the country-people, 
that he had only twenty thousand men, and 
was retreating ready to die of fear. The 
honest Turk believed it. The duke halted 
in an amazingly strong position. I was in the 
centre, under the Prince of Baden, with my 
dismounted dragoons. The Elector of Ba- 
varia commanded the right, in front of which 
the brave, hot-headed young fellows whom 
I have mentioned obtained permission, with 
some difficulty, to form a little squadron. 
They anticipated the Turks, who attacked them 
with prodigious fury and terrific shouts ; but 
they were surrounded : our cuirassiers relieved 
them. The duke supported them himself, and 
was victorious with his wing, as was also the 
Elector of Bavaria with his, and Prince 
Louis in the centre, where I seconded him to 
the utmost of my ability. The Prince of 
Hanover, and the Count of Lippe, pushed the 
Turks into a morass. There were three or 
four great battles in one. The seraskier re- 
ceived a wound in the thigh ; he plucked up 
his beard by the roots, because he was obliged 
to fly. 



PRINCE EUGENE. 25 

We were again before Neuhausel on the 
19th of August. A breach was made. Com- 
merce followed by the young volunteers, was 
the first to mount the walls ; and with the 
Baron d'Asti hoisted upon them the imperial 
colors. The pacha and the garrison were put 
to the sword. The seraskier burned and de- 
molished Novigrad, Vicegrad, and Weitzen ; 
and as for me., I set off to spend the winter at 
Vienna. 

1680. 

It was on this occasion that the Prince of 
Baden, taking me by the hand, said to the 
emperor: " Here, sire, is a young Savoyard 

" Modesty forbids me to repeat the rest. 

The mismanagement of the last year was a 
warning for the present: we were admirably 
supplied. The 13th of June the Prince of 
Baden and I began the siege under the Elector 
of Bavaria. All three joined in an assault 
upon an important tower, of which we made 
ourselves masters. 

From this tower on the 26th of July we 



26 MEMOIRS OF 

battered the castle of Buda in breach: we fully 
expected to gain possession of it, but were dis- 
appointed. Thirty thousand Turks made a 
sally. I had a horse killed under me. Twice 
we penetrated, sword in hand, into the castle, 
and twice we were repulsed. Prince Louis and 
myself were wounded. A Stahrenberg, a Her- 
berstein, and a Kaunitz were killed ; and we 
were obliged to defer the general assault till 
another day. Unluckily I was not at it, being 
ordered to guard the lines, which were threat- 
ened by a numerous army; a charge of con- 
sequence, indeed, as I was told. But the 
accursed Grand Vizir, quiet on a height, not 
daring to attack me, I know not why, saw with 
more coolness than myself this most important 
place taken and plundered before his face. 

Prince Louis and I went, by the command 
of the Duke of Bavaria, and took Fiinfkirchen, 
Calveza, Simonthorna, Kaposwar, and Sick- 
los ; and afterwards burned the bridge at Es- 
seckj which was six thousand paces in length, 
and twenty-four in breadth. The army then 
took up its quarters for the winter. 



PRINCE EUGENE. 27 

I went to spend the carnival at Venice with 
piy dear volunteers and French princes,, and so 
did almost all the other princes in our army, 
and a great number of generals. 

There almost all of them fell in love; the 
Duke of Mantua did still worse, for he was 
quite a libertine; I was neither the one nor 
the other, and was highly diverted at seeing 
that prince as brave with the Venetians as he 
was cowardly with the Turks. 

The Elector of Bavaria was so tender, that 
he would have disgusted me of being so, had 
I been ever so well inclined. The ease with 
which his heart was affected communicated a 
fickleness to his mind, in regard to his opinions 
and resolutions; and from that time 1 consi- 
dered (as I have since found with justice) 
great intrigues as insipid, ridiculous, and cal- 
culated for idlers, and little ones far from 
reputable. 

Morosini entertained us wonderfully well. 
We had, every day, charming and magnificent 
fetes, on shore or at sea. On these occasions 



28 MEMOIRS OF 

I saw women more enterprising than generals. 
As all things have an end, I went to pass the 
rest of the winter at Vienna. 



1687. 

It was at this time that the Duke of Lor- 
raine crushed the enemies of Jesus Christ and 
his own, in the army and at court, in which 
number I was not, though in high favour with 
the Elector and Prince Louis, who belonged 
to that party. The duke marched to attack 
the Grand Vizir : his prudence was equal to 
his valour: he had recourse to the one as 
well as the other. Having advanced too far, 
considering the excellent position of the Turks 
( for they entrench themselves in an astonishing 
manner as soon as they arrive), he was not 
ashamed to retreat. This is a ticklish business 
with such devilish fellows. 1 covered with my 
dragoons the march of the rear; and preserved 
it from injury by charging, several times, the 
spahis who annoyed me. After some time the 
affair became more serious. Ligneville, Thun- 
gen, and Zinzendorff were killed; The Duke 



PRINCE EUGENE. 29 

of Lorraine drew up fortunately and skilfully, 
with his wings well supported, near Mount 
Hersan. The Duke of Mantua, who clambered 
up it, beheld in safety the whole engagement 
in the same plain of Mohatz, where King 
Louis had perished. This excited the general 
laughter of the soldiers, who, thanks to him, 
ran merrily to meet death. The enemy ad- 
vanced to attack us : both sides fought with 
fury. Piccolomini being almost beaten, was 
supported by the brave Elector. His artillery 
did execution : my dragoons took advantage 
of it, and I had the happiness to pursue the 
Turks to the entrenched camp. Having stop- 
ped a moment to survey them, I ordered my 
dragoons to leap into it; some on foot, the 
others on horseback with me. It is said that 
I was the first : it is true that I took a cres- 
cent there, and planted the imperial eagle. 
This was probably the reason that I was dis- 
patched with the news of this victory to the 
emperor. He gave me his portrait surrounded 
with diamonds. I had reached Vienna in a 
very few days ; after spending three there, I 
returned in a very few more to the army, where 
I was also extremely well received ; for at that 



30 MEMOIRS OF 

time,, apparently, I had too little merit to have 
enemies. 

History, I hope, will record the glorious 
conduct of Commerci at the battle of Hersan. 
Nothing of consequence afterwards occurred; 
and the campaign being quite over, I found a 
very brilliant winter at Vienna, on account of 
the coronation of the King of Hungary. The 
Duke of Lorraine, and several other generals, 
also repaired thither. Some intrigued, others 
amused themselves : I was among the latter. 



1688. 

A colonel at twenty, and major-general at 
twenty-one, I was made lieutenant-general at 
twenty-five. I conducted a reinforcement to 
the Prince of Baden in Sclavonia, and re- 
turned with great expedition, because it was 
intended to besiege, or rather to storm Bel- 
grade. The command of the five points of 
assault, on the 6th of September, was given 
to other generals. I complained of this:— ■ 
" You shall remain with me in reserve," re- 



PRINCE EUGENE. 31 

plied the Elector ; " and in this I think I am 
neither taking nor giving you a bad commis- 
sion. God knows what may happen!" He 
had guessed the result : all the assailants were 
repulsed. Sword in hand this brave prince 
and myself rallied and cheered them: I 
mounted the breach ; a Janissary cleft my 
helmet with a stroke of a sabre; I ran my 
sword through his body; and the Elector, who 
had the preceding year received a musket- 
ball in the hand, was again wounded with an 
arrow in the right cheek. Nothing could be 
more brilliant or more sanguinary. How 
strangely one may find amusement amidst 
scenes of the greatest horror ! I shall never 
forget the appearance and grimaces of the 
Jews, who were compelled to throw into the 
Danube the bodies of twelve thousand men, 
killed on both sides, to spare the trouble and 
expence of burying them. I set out for 
Vienna. 

1689. 

Deeply did I regret not having remained 
with the army; then, perhaps, people would 



32 MEMOIRS OF 

not have thought of me or of my name. At 
length, after the finest defence in the world, 
I sacrificed my glory to my zeal — a sacrifice 
not a little painful. My three superior offi- 
cers, masters, and friends, Lorraine and Bava- 
ria, were gathering laurels in the empire, and 
Baden in Hungary, while I was sent to Italy as 
a negociator. The French ambassador at Tu- 
rin was not the dupe of my journey, under- 
taken, as it was given out, to see my family 
and the Duke of Savoy. He knew him, as well 
as I did, to be sordid, ambitious, deceitful, 
implacable, fearing and detesting Louis the 
Fourteenth, not attached to Leopold, but not 
bearing any personal enmity to him ; always 
ready to betray both, and led away by his 
mistresses and his ministers into any thing that 
was not connected with political affairs. 

Being unable, for this reason, to accomplish 
my purpose by means of either, I addressed him 
frankly as follows :— cc Cousin, you will al- 
ways be the slave of your mortal enemy, if you 
do not declare for the Emperor, who will confer 
on you the rank of royal highness and gene- 
ralissimo; and give you whatever you conquer 



PRINCE EUGENE. 33 

in Dauphine and Provence ; and while you 
keep your intentions secret till every thing is 
ready, you may fake your side." 

This, indeed, was working upon him by 
means of the four predominant qualities which 
I have underlined above. 

" When and where shall I conclude this 
treaty ?" said Victor Amedseus. cc Not at 
Turin, for the French ambassador would have 
suspicion of it." — <c At Venice/' I replied. 
(C The ensuing carnival, the Elector of Bava- 
ria, who, like your royal highness (I began to 
give him this title without delay), is fond of 
amusement, will meet you there to sign it. 
This I answer for ; and from this time I trust 
to you to write to the King of France, to em- 
ploy evasions and excuses, to promise and to 
gain time." 

The four motives of all his measures which 
I have mentioned, assuring me of his conduct* 
but not his good faith, which I did not gua- 
rantee for any length of time, I gave my word 
to the emperor, on my speedy return to Vi- 

c 



34 MEMOIRS OF 

enna, that this time my cousin would be on 
our side. Leopold thanked me much., and re- 
warded me with permission to go and see the 
conclusion of the siege of Mentz, defended by 
D'Uxelles, which had then lasted six weeks. I 
arrived just in time for the attack of the co- 
vered way, where I received a musket-ball, 
and returned to Vienna. 



1090. 

Twenty thousand crowns a month from Eng- 
land, twenty thousand more from Holland, 
four millions for the expences of the war, a 
kind of subscription among all the petty 
princes of Italy, had more effect than my elo- 
quence, and converted the Duke of Savoy, for 
some time, into the staunchest Austrian in the 
world. His conduct, which I shall not at- 
tempt to justify, reminds me of that formerly 
pursued by the Dukes of Lorraine, as well as 
the Dukes of Bavaria. Their geography pre- 
vents them from being men of honor. 

The emperor's ministers promised me seven 



PRINCE EUGENE. 35 

thousand men to fro to the assistance of Victor 
Amedauis. I knew with what tardiness orders 
are given and executed at Vienna; and eager 
toengage the French, whom I had ncveryetseen 
opposed to me, I went to join the Duke of Savoy, 
in his camp at Villa Franca. " You arejust in 
time/' said he; " I am going to give battle 
to Catinat ." — " Be cautious what you do," 
said I; (C he is an excellent general, and com- 
mands the old troops, the flower of the French 
armv ; vour's are new levies, and mine have 
not yet come up/' — cc What signifies that }" 
rejoined the duke ; :( I know the country bet- 
ter than Catinat : to-morrow I shall advance 
with my army to the Abbey of Staffarde/' 

Instead of making the attack, we had to sus- 
tain it. The right wing, under the Duke of 
Savoy, was attacked in front: that of the 
French crossed morasses which were believed 
to he impassable, and having turned and beaten 
ours, both their wings united and fell upon our 
left, where I commanded. I made my retreat 
in as good order as I could, and in my rear- 
guard, composed of gendarmes and the life- 
guard- of Savoy, I was Slightly wounded by a 

r a 



36 MEMOIRS OF 

spent ball. I did not chuse to remind my dear 
cousin of his presumption or my prediction; 
but I endeavoured to retrieve matters a little, 
at least, in regard to glory : for some time af- 
terwards I had the good fortune to intercept a 
large detachment which had pillaged Tivoli. 
It fell into an ambuscade, from which, hear- 
ing the French coming,, and singing to the 
utmost stretch of their throats, I sallied 
out and cut them to pieces. I scolded my sol- 
diers severely for treating all the prisoners 
d la turque. They had forgotten that it is 
usual to give quarter to Christians. I pro- 
ceeded to chastise my old acquaintance the 
Duke of Mantua, the hero of Hersan, who 
had formed new connections. I then took my 
leave of the Duke of Savoy, who had lost every 
thing but Turin, and set out for Vienna. 

1691. 

I availed myself of my influence to conduct 
reinforcements to the Duke of Savoy ; but on 
my arrival I surprised him giving a secret audi- 
ence to a French emissary. (e Why was I denied 



PRINCE EUGENE. 37 

admission?" said I to him as I entered. "Who 
is that man ?" — Ci I acknowledge/' said the 
duke, quite disconcerted, " that I am negoci- 
ating a little, by means of him, with Catinat : 
but it is with a view to deceive him the bet- 
ter. There/' added he, " is his letter, and co- 
pies of mine." — "I imagine," said I, "that 
you nevertheless intend to retain the consider- 
able subsidies which I procured for you ? 'Tis 
very embarrassing for your royal highness." I 
watched him more narrowly than ever, well 
knowing whom I had to deal with. I saved 
his honor for this time, and contributed to 
his glory at the expence of his plans, by trick- 
ing Balonde, who was besieging Coni, and 
who, in consequence of a letter, which, as I 
foresaw, would be intercepted by some French 
party or other, raised the siege. Catinat re- 
crossed the Po. I charged his rear : he was 
there in person, and performed prodigies, both 
as a general and a soldier. I had but a few 
squadrons with me. Catinat, who was stronger 
than I, animated his men by his presence. I 
suffered my ardour to get the better of my 
judgment ; and pushed forward so far into the 



38 MEMOIRS OF 

combat, that after receiving several balls 
through my clothes, a French horse-soldier 
was going to blow out my brains with a 
pistol, when he was dispatched by a dragoon 
of my regiment, who was as highly pleased as 
myself, fori was much beloved by those brave 
fellows. Reinforcements poured in to us from 
all sides ; I went and took Carmagnole, where 
all my soldiers again behaved rather too much 
a la turqw : but I made some examples. 
Catinat manoeuvred most wonderfully ; he 
would have beaten us, had we not retreated. 
Langallerie even gained an important advan- 
tage over our rear, and it was this that after- 
wards induced me to take him into the service 
of the emperor. 

I accompanied the Elector of Bavaria, who 
had also been on our side in this campaign, to 
Venice, and again beheld with pleasure my 
old acquaintances. More amours, and for 
me too had I been so inclined, husbands but 
too complaisant, who wished me to procure 
the dismission of cicisbeos, whom they dis- 
liked; too many Potiphars, to whom I acted 



PRINCE EUGENE. 39 

the part of Joseph, because I had other 
matters to attend to. At the beginning of 

Januarv, I returned to Vienna. 

. - 

1 602. 

I was very soon sent back to watch the 
motions of my Catinat, but more especially 
those of the Duke of Savoy. To keep him 
steady,, I carried him the appointment of 
generalissimo, with which he was highly 
pleased. He would have marched immedi- 
ately to attack Catinat, under Pignerol : all 
his generals ae.d those of his allies acquiesced 
in this intention, but I was far from approving 
it. " Catinat is a skilful commander/' said 
I to him. " If he is beaten, he will have 
reinforcements ; if he beats us again, farewel 
to ltalv. Let us oblige him to j;ive up his 
conquests by a good diversion, which will 
humble the great Louis; let us amuse him 
in this country, and penetrate into Dauphine 
in spite of all the obstacles of the passes." 

My opinion prevailed : I went and took 
Quillestre and Embrun : there I received a 



40 MEMOIRS OF 

contusion on the shoulder, in the trenches by 
the side of the Duke of Savoy ; and Commerci 
a ball which knocked out three of his teeth. 
There too I lost Leganes and fifteen hundred 
men; but at length I was in France. I 
then made myself master of Gap, and the 
Duke of Savoy would have marched by way 
of Sisteron to Aix, and perhaps to Ljons, 
without the least difficulty, but for the 
small-pox, which saved France and reduced 
him to the brink of the grave. By his will 
he appointed me regent of his dominions. The 
duchess on her arrival finding him not so ill 
as he had been, carried him with her to Turin. 
Stopped by this unlucky accident, which 
caused us to lose a great deal of time, and by 
the perplexity of his generals, who, not being 
exactly acquainted with their master's real 
intentions, knew not how far they ought to 
obey me; I was obliged to lead back the 
army by the same road, for Catinat was wait- 
ing for us near Briangon. 

" At least/' said our soldiers, " we have 
revenged the atrocities of the French in the 
Palatinate, without doing it in their way ; we 



PRINCE EUGENE. 41 

have plundered pretty handsomely, and raised 
a million in contributions. " There were 
cuirassiers who staked twenty louis on a 
card. 

cc Why did the king banish my mother V 
said I to Commerci : " I have been expelling 
from their homes several thousands of his 
subjects." The order of the Golden Fleece 
was sent to me at Turin; and on my arrival 
at Vienna,, I was made field marshal ; ten 
years after my entrance into the service. I 
was delighted, as may easily be conceived, but 
grieved that Commerci was still but a major- 
general. 



1693. 

Victor Amedaeus designed to take Pignerol, 
and wait for Catinat in the plain of Orbassan. 
I dissuaded him from this plan. <c At least/' 
said I, ce since you intend to fight near La 
Marsaille, make yourself master of the height 
of Piosasque. He was exasperated at the 
burning by way of reprisals of La Vencrie, a 



42 MEMOIRS OF 

seat of his own,, and another belonging to his 
minister St. Thomas, and sent a message to 
the French, that he would no longer give 
quarter to their soldiers. This point was 
already but too well settled. 

Catinat displayed on that day all his talents, 
and the Duke of Savoy his usual valor. The 
former, in possession of the height, had every 
advantage over both our wings, cut up, at the 
same time, in flank by his artillery. What 
could I do in the centre ? I fought success- 
fully enough for some time, but overwhelmed 
on either side, I retreated as honorably as I 
could. Catinat disapproved of the fury of 
his troops, who cried out : " Let us too treat 
the Germans d la tartare" 

It was impossible to determine whether 
this unaccountable duke wished or did not 
wish to gain the battles which he fought ; but 
these two were a warning to me; and as it 
was known that I had advised him against 
them, I was on that account not the less in 
favor with the army, the city, and the court. 
It was then, however, that I began to perceiye 



PRINCE EUGENE. 43 

that I bad enemies. Caprara was the first ; 
he was jealous of me without occasion, for 
he possessed merit. He was at the head of 
the Austrian and Spanish cabal, which strove 
to torment me all my life, but which I always 
laughed at. 



1604. 

I went to Vienna to solicit reinforcements. 
I obtained them, but very late. If aly had 
ceased to be a la mode. Turkey, the empire, 
and the Low Countries, were more thought of 
The ministers had no money: I returned to 
the Duke of Savoy, and said to him on my 
arrival: — "You cannot give me the slip this 
campaign at least, cousin : the siege of Casal 
shall be the pledge of your conduct : if you 
have no objection, let us begin it immediately;" 
fi 'Tis indeed what I wish/' replied he, "but 
it will be very long; in my opinion it will be 
better to blockade that fortress the whole 
winter, that we may reduce it in spring." " At 
least/' said I, "let us take the Castle of St. 
George," and accordingly it was taken. What 



44 MEMOIRS OF 

a dull campaign ! and what a strange man 
is my cousin ! 



1695. 

I obliged him at length to form the siege. 
The snow forced us to abandon it till the end 
of June : I pushed it on briskly when I was 
in the trenches. Prince Charles of Branden- 
burg, relieving me there one day, received a 
musket-ball through his body. Crenon at 
length capitulated, and I would have laid 
siege to Pignerol. Every day new pretexts 
were made to oppose it, under the appearance 
of agreeing to the measure : we went into 
winter quarters. What a dull campaign I 
and what a strange man is my cousin ! 



1606. 

He lost no time. To get away from the spies 
upon his conduct, whom I had left at Turin, 
thinking the carnival of Venice likely to 
excite suspicion, he contrived a journey to 



TRINCE EUGENE. 45 

our lady of Loretto. It was, he said, in 
performance of a vow which he had made in 
the small-pox. Knowing the pilgrim to be 
any thing rather than devout, I soon discovered 
that he had there met the agents of the pope, 
the Venetians, and the French, and learned 
the conditions of the treaty. " I have already 
told you/' said I, to him, on his return to 
Turin, "that I watched you more closely 
than Catinat : you will not deceive me again." 
" 'Tis hard/' replied he, "to be suspected by 
a relation/' Scarcely had I left his closet, 
when I was informed of the publication of his 
truce with the French; and determined not to 
do him the honor of speaking to him again, 
I expressed my indignation in the severest 
letter I ever wrote in my life. Commerci, 
more hot-headed, sent him a challenge : the 
duke had accepted it, and was going to the 
place appointed for the meeting, but was pre- 
vented by his ministers and generals. 

He now threw off all restraint. He acknow- 
ledged that without wishing to be at war with 
any body, and desirous of putting an end to 
hostilities in Italy, he had concluded a treaty 



46 MEMOIRS Of 

of neutrality with Louis XIV. and that since 
the allies refused to accede to it, he would 
join the French. Catinat and the Duke of 
Savoy began operations by laying siege to 
Valence. The generals of the allies and 
myself, finding, after this junction, that we 
were too weak to resist, and fearing for the 
Milanese, accepted the neutrality ; and each, 
after evacuating Italy, returned either to 
Germany, or to wait for the French on the 
other side of the mountains. 

Disappointed in the field and in negociation, 
I returned to Vienna, to acquaint the emperor 
with my melancholy situation, and that of our 
affairs. He observed that I had nothing to 
reproach myself with, and as a proof of his 
sincerity, he gave me the command of his 
army in Hungary. " For the rest, sire/' said 
I, " since I still have Italy at heart, the only 
way to have the Duke of Savoy on our side 
is for him to declare against us. He will 
behave in the same manner to the French, 
and in a short time come over to us again/' 

Louis XIV. supposing perhaps that I was 



PRINCE EUGENE. #1 

discontented, or that others were dissatisfied 
with me, sent me a proposal to pass ,'nto his 
service. I gave a pretty reception to the 
person commissioned to speak to me on the 
subject, and who, I am sure, durst not transmit 
to him my answer such as it was. 



1607. 

The Turks are never in a hurry. The 
grand signor, Kara Mustapha, himself did me 
the honor to arrive at Sophia, with his army 
in the month of July. I collected mine at 
Verismarton ; I called in Vaudemont and 
Rabutin, as it appeared to me to be the grand 
signor's design to make himself master of 
Titul, that he might be able to lay siege to 
Peterwaradin. I encamped on the 26th of 
August at Zenta. General Nehm was at- 
tacked. I arrived too late to his assistance, 
but nevertheless praised him, for he could not 
have held out any longer, overwhelmed as be 
was by numbers. God be thanked, I never 
complained of any one, neither did 1 ever 



48 MEMOIRS OF 

throw upon another the blame of a fault or 
misfortune. Titul was burned. The grand 
vizir remained on this side of the Danube, 
which it was necessary for the grand signor 
to cross before he could lay siege to Peterwa- 
radin ; but marching along the bank of the 
river, and concealing my intention by my 
skirmishes with the spahis, I got before him, 
passed the bridge, and thus saved the place. 
This march, I must own, was well conducted, 
and equivalent to a victory. I entrenched myself 
with great dispatch, and the enemy durst 
not attack me. Among some prisoners whom 
we took, there happened to be a pacha, whom 
I questioned in vain respecting the designs of 
Kara Mustapha ; but four hussars, with 
drawn sabres*- ready to cut him in pieces, ex- 
torted the confession that the enemy at first 
intended to make an attempt on Segedin ; but 
that the grand signor having afterwards 
changed his mind, had already begun to cross 
the Teisse ; and that great part of the army 
under the command of the grand vizir was 
still in good entrenchments near Zenta. I was 
marching to attack them, when a cursed 



PRINCE EUGENE. 49 

courier brought me an order from the empe- 
ror, not to give battle under any circumstance 
whatever. 

I had already advanced too far. By stop- 
ping where I w as, I should have lost part of my 
army, and my honor. I put the letter in my 
pocket, and, at the head of six regiments of 
dragoons, approached so near to the Turks, 
as to perceive that they were all preparing to 
pass the Teisse. I rejoined my army with a 
look of satisfaction, which, I was told, was 
considered a good omen by the soldiers. I 
began the engagement by charging myself two 
thousand spahis, whom I forced to return to 
their entrenchments. A hundred pieces of 
cannon annoyed me greatly. I sent orders to 
Rabutin to advance his left wing so as to form 
a curve with it towards the right: and to 
Stahrenberg, who commanded the right, to do 
the same towards the left, with a view to take 
in the whole entrenchment by a semicircle. 
This I could not have ventured to do before 
Catinat, who would have interrupted me in 
BO -low and so complicated a movement. The 
Turk«. however, gave me do molestation. 

D 



50 MEMOIRS OF 

They attacked my left wing too late; yet 
they would have handled it roughly, but for 
four battalions of the second line, and the 
artillery, which I sent very opportunely to 
repel their cavalry, and make a breach in the 
entrenchments. It was six in the evening. 
The Turks, assaulted, and their entrench- 
ments forced in all points, hurried in crowds 
to the bridge and choked it up, so that they 
were obliged to throw themselves into the 
Teisse, where those who escaped drowning 
were killed. On every side was heard the 
cry of Aman ! Aman ! which signifies Quar- 
ter ! At ten at night, the slaughter still con- 
tinued ; I could not take more than four thou- 
sand prisoners, for twenty thousand were left 
dead on the field, and ten thousand were drown- 
ed. I did not lose a thousand men. Those 
alone who first betook themselves to flight at 
the commencement of the battle, rejoined the 
corps which had remained on the opposite side 
of the river. It was the 11th of September : I 
sent Vaudemoni with the account of this affair 
to Vienna. I then went and took two forts and 
two castles in Bosnia, burned Seraglio, and 
returned to Hungary into winter-quarters. 



PRINCE EUGENE. 51 

I set out for Vienna, where I expected to 
be received u hundred times better than I 
had ever yet been. Leopold gave me the 
coldest of audiences ; more dry than ever, 
he listened ^o me without saying a word. 
I instantly perceived that somebody or other 
had been at work during my absence, and 
that while I was ridding myself of the 
Turks, some good Christians at Vienna had 
been trying to get rid of mc. I went away 
from the audience with a feeling of indig- 
nation, which grew still stronger when 
Schlick, in great consternation, came and de- 
manded my sword. I delivered it into his 
trembling hand with a look of the profound- 
est disdain, which served to increase his 
dismay. It was reported that I said: (c Take 
it, yet reeking with the blood of enemies ; 
I have no wish to resume it, except for the 
benefit of his majesty's service.'* One half 
of this sentence would have been a eascon- 
ade, and the other a mean resignation. My 
rage was silent. I was put under arrest in 
my bote 1 .. Here I was soon informed that 
Gaspard Kinsky. and some others, wished 
me to be brought to trial for disobedience 
d2 



52 MEMOIRS OF 

and rashness, and that I was to be tried by 
a court-martial, by which I should proba- 
bly be sentenced to die. This report was 
soon circulated through the whole city. 
The people assembled about my house ; de- 
puties from the body of citizens offered to 
guard me and to prevent my being taken 
away, in case of any design to put the above 
mentioned design in execution. I entreated 
them not to violate their duty as loyal sub- 
jects, nor to disturb the public tranquillity '; 
I thanked them for their zeal, by which I 
was moved even to tears. The city of Vien- 
na is small. This assemblage of the people 
was known at court in a few minutes. Either 
from fear or repentance, the emperor sent 
me my sword, with the request that I would 
still continue to command his army in Hun- 
gary. I replied I would, on condition that 
I should have a carte blanche, and be no 
longer exposed to the malice of his generals 
and ministers. The poor emperor durst not 
publicly give me these full powers, though 
he did privately in a note signed with his 
own hand ; and with this I thought proper 
to be content. 



PRINCE EUGENE. 53 

This anecdote of Leopold, whom I pity 
for not having; felt that a more signal re- 
paration was due to me, fully demonstrates 
the falsehood of a saying which has been as- 
cribed to me ; that of the three emperors 
whom J have served, the first was my fa- 
ther, the second my brother, and the third 
my master. A pretty sort of a father truly, 
to order my head to be cut off for having 
saved his empire ! 

I must turn my eyes another way to look 
for energy. Behold it in the north. Charles 
XII. King of Sweden, at the age of fifteen, 
is the mediator of peace between the Eu- 
ropean powers. It was signed at Ryswick 
on the 2ist of September. 



1698. 

In consequence of this, my army receiv- 
ed reinforcements from that of Germany : 
nevertbele s he Turks -Acre four times 
as strong. I was disappointed of gaining 



54 MEMOIRS OF 

another battle at £enta. In vain I marched 
and countermarched ; the models every where 
entrenched themselves. 1 then retreated to 
induce them to leave their holes : all my 
endeavours were fruitless. I would have 
marched into Bosnia ; but they had received 
a reinforcement of forty thousand Tartars, 
and all the passes were guarded. I would 
have invested Temeswar; but they would 
have obliged me to raise the siege. Before 
they could have time to assemble for this 
operation I thought I should be able to 
make myself master of the place by inter- 
cepting a prodigious convoy on the point 
of entering it. I marched thither myself 
at the head of cavalry, placing my infantry 
in ambuscade. A hussar who deserted oc- 
casioned the failure of this attempt. This 
was the most wretched campaign for my 
glory that ever I made in my life, I exe- 
cuted only thirty ringleaders of a plot to 
revolt^ formed by seven regiments, which, 
liaving received no pay for four months 
(for the court left me destitute of money) 
had resolved to go over to the Turks. Oo 



PRINCE EUGENE. W 

tl e 26cb of January, the peace of Carlowitz 
was signed j that as usual, war might be 
carried on elsewhere. 



1000. 

I sent back my army, and set out for Vienna. 
This year x began my fine library, and con- 
ceived a passion for gardens and palaces. 

I purchased, from time to time, some beau- 
tiful cabinet paintings and drawings that 
were not known. I was not rich enough 
to form a gallery, and was not fond of 
engravings, because other persons may pos- 
sess the same. I never liked copies of any 
kind, and those talents which run away with 
valuable time. A few wind-instruments, mar- 
tial airs, hunting-tunes, flourishes of trum- 
pets, or pleasing airs of comic operas, reliev- 
ed me, during dinner, from the necessity 
of speaking or listening to tiresome persons. 



56 MEMOIRS OF 



1700. 

A century of continual war was now at 
an end ; the celebrated peace of Westphalia 
in 1648, which was to -extend to all Europe, 
had not accomplished iis object. The good 
advisers of Leopold, and Leopold himself, 
not corrected by my example, would have 
brought Prince Louis of Baden to a court- 
martial for his campaign on the Rhine. Salni 
and Kaunitz were the only honest men who 
opposed this measure; they would, however, 
have been overpowered but for me. Influ- 
enced as much by justice as by consanguinity 
and intimate friendship, 'which I retained for 
him through my whole life,, I loudly censured 
the proceeding, at the same time shewing 
that I had not forgotten Zenta. 

After the peace of Carlo witz, France was 
so polite as to send, us M. Villars as her 
ambassador. He was received with great 
distinction by all those with whom he had 
been acquainted in Hungary, where he had 



PRINCE EUGENE. 57 

rained great reputation as a volunteer, and 
by the whole city, who thought him ex- 
fciemely amiable. But intrigues were carried 
on at his court against ours without his 
knowledge. lie ^as highly astonished at the 
coldness with which he was all at once treat- 
ed. Notwithstanding the friendship of the 
kino; of the Romans for me, I ould not pre- 
vail upon him to relax in this respect. " Of 
what use," said I to him, and to the cour- 
tiers and generals who followed his example, 
" is this personal antipathy, which M. Villars 
does not deserve ? I shall see him, and con- 
tinue on friendly terms with him, till we 
begin to fire upon one another again/' 
Prince Louis of Baden acted in thj same 
manner, though we were not the better liked 
for it. We all three parted very good 
friends. We missed his company much ; for 
when Louis XIV. had at length completed 
all his machinations, and thrown oil' the 
mask, he departed. Previous to this we had 
the following conversation : 

« It is not my fault/' said he, " if, with- 
out knowing how to suppress your rebellion 



58 MEMOIRS OF . 

in Hungary, you are determined to make 
war upon us. I had rather jour highness 
would do like those gentlemen who have 
turned their backs upon me here,, as they 
will do elsewhere, if I command an army." 
This was truly a sally d la Villars* (c You 
hope perhaps that the Turks will interfere, 
because the abbe Joachim has predicted that 
the empress will have twins, one of whom 
shail sit on the throne of Constantinople.' 9 
tl I am not angry with you, M. de Villars," 
replied I, '* for in your correspondence, which 
to be sure is a little in ihe light French 
style, you have transmitted to your court 
a portrait of me drawn by the hand of friend- 
ship ; but there are people who complain 
of certain inadvertencies, and the court of 
having read in one of your dispatches : 'We 
shall see if the Christ in Leopold's chapel 
will speak to him as he did to Ferdinand 
II. He is there still, I have seen him with 
my own eyes/ Private individuals never 
forgive a satire ; judge then of the eifect 
which a sarcasm must produce upon a sove- 
reign/' " It is only with great reserve in 
conversation," said he, (f that I have sup- 



PRINCE EUGEBTE. 59 

ported myself in this country. I am angry 
with your Austrians, who, among* the tales 
which they invent concerning me, assert toat 
I conspired with Ragotzi against the person 
of the emperor." " I can tell you/' answered 
I, <( ^hat gave rise to this stupid idea. 
People recollected an expression in a letter 
intercepted while you were a volunteer in 
our service: f I am an Austrian with the 
arrav, but a Frenchman at Vienna,* This 
implies a great deal, said the fools. No 
conspiracies have ever been formed against 
our emperors ; they have never been assas- 
sinated. We have no Clements or Ravail- 
lacs. The people are not enthusiasts, as with 
you, but for that very reason, ihey do not 
run into extremes. Crimes inaeed are very 
rare in Austria. Last year come personr. 
wanted to persuade Leopold that a desigii 
had been formed to kill him because a ball 
went through his hat while hunting. c Seek 
the man/ said he, with his Spanish air; 
1 he is a bungler one way or other ; he is 
dying c. r fear or of hunger ; give him a 
thousand ducats." 



60 MEMOIRS OF 



1701. 

The war being on pae point of breaking 
out afresh on account of the Spanish suc- 
cession, a great conncil was held on the 
subject. I gave it as my. opinion that the 
Archduke should be immediately sent to 
Spain, and that an army should enter Lorn- 
bardy. It was rejected by Leopold's honest 
advisers; but they had reason to repent it. 
Prince Louis was appointed to the chief 
command in the Empire as I was in Italy. 

I had thirty thousand good veteran troops. 
The Duke of Mantua, having a French 
garrison placed in his capital, I know not 
whether with or without his consent, pre- 
tended that it was a commencement of 
hostilities on the part of Catinat : this af- 
forded me a pretext for beginning mine. — 
But a word or two respecting this Duke, of 
whom I have already made mention. For- 
migha was almost his prime minister. The 
Abbe Fantoni, his lord of the bed-chamber^ 



PRINCE EUGENE. 61 

sometimes provided him courtezans, like one 
Mathia ; sometimes a mistress, like the 
Countess Calori; and at others a wife to 
secure him in the interest of Louis XIV. 
like a Conde or an Elbceuf, furnished by 
the king. Both of them, being gained by 
France, prevented his marrying an Aremberg, 
who would have rendered him favorable to 
us. The Duke had nevertheless a seraglio 
guarded by eunuchs. Never was there seen 
so strange a creature. — Thanks to him, how- 
ever, I was now in the full career of war, 
after ten days of incredible labor among 
mountains and precipices with two thousand 
pioneers ; and part of my subsequent success 
was already decided because I did not respect 
the neutrality of the republic of Venice. 

Catinat, having received from his court 
positive orders not to violate that neutrality, 
could not oppose my entering the Veronese. 
On leaving the Trentino, I sent my excuses 
by a major to the most Serene Republic, and 
continued mv march. Catinat was waiting: 
for me at another place, where I should 
have had defiles to pass through, and have 



62 MEMOIRS OF 

been beaten, but for the expedient not the 
most delicate, indeed, which I had adopted. 
This was a proper case for urging imperious 
circumstances, misunderstanding, and the un- 
certainty of a general permission in a republic, 
as an excuse, and I failed not to avail 
myself of it. By passing the Adige and the 
Po, I induced Catinat to extend his army; I 
attacked and routed St. Fremont at Carpi. 
Tesse came to his relief and prevented his 
total destruction, which would have been 
inevitable had not the roads stopped Com- 
merci with my cavalry. I nevertheless put 
to flight those two generals, cut off from 
Catinat, who was waiting for me at Ostigiia^ 
and while pursuing and charging them at the 
head of the cuirassiers^ I received a severe 
wound from a musket-shot in my left knee. 
Having joined Commerci, Catinat durst not 
give me battle, or rather go on with that 
which had been almost one continued action. 
He took advantage of the night to cross the 
Mincio. I followed him from the other 
side of the river, because he had not had 
time to call in all his detachments; and the 
Duke of Savoy, who began his old tricks. 



PRINCE EUGENE. *8 

bad not thought fit to send him his troops. 
Catinat retreated upon Chiesa and thus was 
I master of all the country between the 
Adige and the Adda, excepting Mantua. 
I had kept up a regular correspondence 
with Victor Amedmis, with whom I had 
a notion that I should be able to do some- 
thing. One must employ artifice in Italy. 
I bribed a Franciscan of Mantua, and he 
gained over the whole convent. Under the 
pretence of confessing us in our camp,, the 
monks carried arms away with them under 
their clothes to dispatch the guard at the 
nearest gate, which they were to open to my 
soldiers disguised as peasants, one day when 
I was to go with a large retinue to hear 
mass at Notre Dame de Grace. They had 
likewise gained the inhabitants; but being 
discovered and disarmed, they were punished 
as they deserved, and thus my scheme was 
frustrated. 

The Duke of Savoy, satisfied with having 
again become generalissimo, and married his 
(laughter to the Duke of Burgundy, re- 
paired to the auny en the two Crowns. 



64 MEMOIRS OF 

I paid him my compliments out of respect, 
and made him a present, out oT friendship, 
of so. ue beautiful Turkish horses, some of 
the spcils of Zenta. He ventured to accept 
but one. Louis XIV, angry because I had 
deceived Catinat, did me the great favour 
of putting the ignorant and presumptuous 
Villeroy in the place of one of the best 
generals that France ever had. When the 
Duke of Savoy proposed to undertake any 
thing, and said to him (( I am generalissimo:" 
Viileroy would reply, " I have orders from 
the King/* So indeed he had to seek me 
wherever I might be, and to engage me. My 
cousin had the kindness to apprize me of this. 
I wanted Chiari for the head of my camp : 
the Venetian commandant talked to me about 
neutrality, but I told him that was a thing 
I only laughed at. He requested me to ac- 
cept his protest, and I signed just what he 
pleased. The enemy outwitted me; I was 
his dupe this time I must confess. Prawntal 
with all the drums of the army made such 
a noise at the bridge of Palazzuolo, that 
the corps destined to prevent the passage 
of the Oglio continued there, and the enemy 



PRINCE EUGENE. 65 

crossed in another place. I took a position 
so as to front on three sides. The generous 
Catinat, instead of rejoicing' to see his com- 
mander beaten, said to him : tc Do not fight; 
let us retreat. " The Duke of Savov, on the 
contrary, who wished Villeroy to get a sound 
drubbing, said, (( Fight ! let us attack! 
Catinat is timid, you know/' 

On the 1st of September, on my left my 
post of Chiarij notwithstanding its excellence, 
was nearly forced by the unparalleled im- 
petuosity of the French : the houses, mills, 
and all were already carried. Never did I 
witness such valor. Daun drove them back. 
My right, concealed on the ground behind 
an entrenchment, suddenly started up and 
fired when the enemy had advanced quite 
close. Villeroy ordered an attempt to be 
made with the centre; but this scarcely ever 
succeeds when the wings are beaten. 

The worthy, the admirable Catinat rallied 
the troops, led them back to the attack, and 
received a severe contusion on the breast, and 
a -hot in his hand. As for Victor Amcdreus, 



66 MEMOIRS OF 

he was every where ; he exposed himself like 
the most determined of the soldiers, and had a 
horse killed under him. What a singular 
character ! This time he wished to lose the 
battle; but habitual courage stifled the sug- 
gestions of policy. 

Notwithstanding the loss of the combined 
army, it was still much stronger than mine. 
I again took a good position; the two advan- 
tages which I had gained had somewhat 
lowered the presumption and lofty tone of 
Villeroy. The only actions now fought were 
between the advanced posts and small detach- 
ments. Mine always had the advantage, be- 
cause my spies, to whom I often gave three 
hundred ducats for a trifling piece of infor- 
mation, apprised me of the slightest move- 
ment The only thing to be done was to 
decamp ; the first who should break up ran 
the risk of being beaten, and it was neverthe- 
less absolutely necessary to go into winter 
quarters. 

My horses were destitute of provender ; 
dead leaves were given them to eat : my men 



PRINCE EUGENE. 67 

fell a way perceptibly, but were attached to 
me, and endured their hardships with patience; 
while Viileroy's, who likewise suffered, but 
in a much less degree, deserted by hundreds. 
I set an example of temperance and patience. 
To relieve our ennui, rnv Vaudemont formed 
a plan for carrying off his father f:om his 
quarters. Awakened by the discharge of a 
musket , he escaped in his morning- gown 3 and 
tins attempt of filial piety miscarried. So 
did my scheme too ; for Catinat stole away 
under favor of the night from his camp, 
and repassed the Oglio. Deceived, or rather 
ill served on ..this occasion, which was never- 
theless of great importance to me, I hurried 
thither in spite of the darkness, and instead 
of destroying Villeroy, only took from him 
four hundred prisoners, and to be sure did 
some execution on the other side of the river 
with my artillery, which followed me at full 
gallop. 

The French, d}ing of hunger and fatigue, 

went into cantonments. Tic Venetians would 

not o;ive me anv in the Bressano. To fi £-ht 

with the prospect of being beaten, and to 

e2 



6$ MEMOIRS OF 

retire into Tyrol, appeared to me to be equally 
hard. Whither was I then to go for the win- 
ter ? Judging the most hazardous step to be 
the most prudent, I threw myself into the 
territories of Mantua, took by assault Canette, 
the ancient Bedriacum, thanks to one of 
Daun's men, who amidst a shower of shot 
cut the rope of a draw-bridge, and after- 
wards made myself master of Mascaria, 
Rodolesco, and the bridge of Gazolo. 

Two little disasters befel detachments of 
mine, I know not whether through my fault, 
or through the fault of Drack, who command- 
ed one, or of Merecl, who commanded the 
other. The latter was taken prisoner, and 
was just going to be put to death by way of 
retaliation when he was saved by a French of- 
ficer. He had fallen into an ambuscade 
formed by Tesse, who had ]eh Mantua upon 
this expedition, which did him honor. I 
gained possession, notwithstanding, of all the 
Mantuano, excepting Goito and Mantua, 
which I blockaded. I know not whether it 
was the heart or the understanding of the 
Princess of Mirandola that pleaded with her 



PRINCE EUGENE. 69 

in my behalf; but she gave a grand supper to 
all die principal French officers to aiiord me 
an opportunity of surprising the place. I 
took Berulo in spite of the Duke of Modena, 
Who made believe to oppose me. The Duke 
of Parma absolutely insisted that my troops 
should not enter his dominions: I laughed at 
his protestations and those of the Pope, whose 
vassal he called himself. Guastalla had al- 
ready surrendered to me, and after having 
thus set to rights all these petty princes of 
Italy, I occupied three of their provinces to 
give rest to my troops during the whole 
winter. 



1702. 

To myself alone I allowed none ; I posted 
from one quarter to another, and observed with 
pleasure the negligence that prevailed among 
the French. " I must," said Villeroy, " make 
these three princes dance the rigadoon du- 
ring the carnival." This excited in us a 
desire to anticipate him by surprising Cre- 
mona, bv Commerci on one side, and Vaude- 



70 MEMOIRS OF 

mont on the other, The latter lost his way in 
the night : one of my detachments had entered 
by a sewer ; I was already master of one of 
the gates of the city, the barracks, and some 
streets. These lines, put into the mouths of 
the French soldiers, record the rest of the 
story, which is besides perfectly well known : 

By the favor of Bellona, 

And Fortune's smiles most liberal, 

We again have found Cremona, 
And have lost our general. 

Villeroy, taken by our soldiers, who had 
thrown him down from his horse, without hat, 
without wig, and without sword, so that it 
was impossible to know him again, said to 
Macdonnel, " I am the Marshal ; save me, 
and I will give you a regiment of cavalry and 
a pension of two thousand crowns." The 
streets were dyed with blood. To put an end 
to all these petty conflicts, I sent Commerci 
to ask Villeroy to order them ail to cease, 
and the French to surrender. He had the 
good sense to reply : (C Who would obey a 
prisoner ?" — And when he saw Crenau, who 
had been killed, carried along, he observed : 



/ 



PRINCE EUGENE. 71 

" I envy his fate." I repaired to the town- 
house to rouse the citizens. Mahoni said to 
one of my officers: " Quarter for M. Fried- 
berg!" — " 'Tis not a day for mercy/' replied 
the latter ; tf do your duty and I will do 
mine/" — and Friedberg was killed. Our sol- 
diers, and in particular the cuirassiers, with 
whom I was not perfectly satisfied on the score 
of courage and order, were repulsed on every 
side. Before they were completely driven out 
of the city, I went to see Villeroy, whom I 
could not help pitying. I sent him off to 
Inspruck, and issued orders .for a retreat, 
which it would have been extremely difficult 
to effect, if Crequi had cut me off from the 
rest of my army. I admired the valor of 
the French, roused from their sleep, and half 
naked, every where making the most deter- 
mined resistance, and also the intelligence of 
their officers. In this qualification mine were 
extremely deficient. I had the glory of sur- 
prising and the disgrace of not keeping what 
I had gained : but when you are unsuccessful, 
ti> much the same as if you had made no 
attempt. 1 went to invest Mantua more 
closely: its duke was dying of fear and famine, 



72 MEMOIRS OF 

notwithstanding all the exertions of Tesse, 
who behaved most admirably : he had even 
the address sometimes to deceive my parties, 
while he introduced supplies of provisions 
into the city. 

The able, the intrepid, the good, the amia- 
ble, the generous, the dexterous discoverer of 
his enemies' projects, sometimes indiscreet re- 
specting his own, the affable, the indolent 
Vendome came to succeed Villeroy. On his 
arrival he made several movements with his 
army : I did the same with mine, clearly per- 
ceiving that it was his intention to attack me, 
or to relieve Mantua. The court of Vienna 
not having given me a sufficient number of 
troops, either out of malice, or from the want 
of means, this outset of Vendome's was highly 
brilliant : he took from me all my small towns 
and all my communications. I entrenched my- 
self wherever I went; and the better to watch 
his motions, I took a camp very near his. 

Churlish people have found fault with me 
for the attempt to seize Vend 8 me in his house 
at Rivalto, on the banks of the Lake of Man- 



PRINCE EUGENE. r /3 

tin, where he had his head- quarters, made by 
Da via j whom I sent for the purpose with fifty 
men in boats. One of his soldiers killed the 
sentinel, whom Davia had directed to be car- 
ried off. The guard hastened to the spot. 
Davia re embarked, and did wrong to order 
his men, as they were coming- away, to fire at 
Yendome's windows. 

In the first place, in war let him trick the 
other who can ; and in the next it was doin<r 

o 

him an honor ; for Catinat himself would not 
have executed his manoeuvres with such ra- 
pidity. At any rate he was soon even with me. 
Vendoir.e caused twelve pieces of cannon to be 
placed on a height, and ordered them to play 
upon my house. I rose, for it was ready to 
tumble about my ears. Commerces was burned 
by the red-hot balls, and others battered down; 
the tents of my guard were pierced, and about 
a hundred men killed. This I thought per- 
fectly simple, but rather long, for the can- 
nonade lasted three hours, though I never 
complained of it. 

I [willing to remove any farther from Man- 



74 MEMOIRS OF 

tua, I raised the entrenchments of m y camp to 
the height of twenty feet. Who would be- 
lieve that I had learned something from the 
Turks, and that the Turks had learned some- 
thing from the Romans ? This practice must, 
I should think, have been transmitted to them 
bj colonies of that people, like the Etruscan 
forms of vases and pitchers, which are to 
be found in every cottage. I return to my 
subject. 

I could not boast of the smallest advantage 
over Vendome. A large detachment to watch 
him, commanded by Visconti, who had three 
horses killed under him, was surprised and 
beaten. Commerci, though with nothing but 
his boots on his bare legs, arrived too late, 
and without being obliged to go, for he was 
ill. I plainly perceived that I must raise the 
blockade of Mantua, collect all my detach- 
ments and little garrisons, and give battle with 
my twenty-six thousand men. I marched to- 
ward the Seraglio, and Vendome to Luzara, 
from which place the little garrison that I still 
had there retired to a tower. From the Se- 
raglio I went and crossed the Po, at the com- 



PRINCE EUGENE. 75 

mencement of the canal of Zero, and concealed 
all my infantry behind a great dyke, near the 
spot upon which the enemy had fixed for his 
camp. At the moment when the combined 
army, deceived by my spies, was just about to 
enter the place, we were discovered by the 
greatest of accidents. I ordered my soldiers 
to climb the dyke ; they scrambled up as well 
as they could, and I rushed upon the enemy, 
who had not time to form in order of battle. 
My cavalry, with fascines, which I had given 
them for the purpose, made a passage to sup- 
port my infantry. The gallant Commerci, my 
dearest friend and my best general, fell while 
engaging the left wing. Lichtenstein took his 
place, and was likewise killed. Langallerie 
rallied that wing and repulsed the victors, 
afflicted by the loss of their officers. They 
returned to the charge, and recovered their 
ground. Tvleanuhile my left wing was beaten. 
Stahrenberg rallied it. Vaudernont came to 
its assistance, and performed prodigies. I was 
successful in the centre, notwithstanding the 
presence of Vend o me, who was also in the 
centre of bis army; and yet I should have 
been defeated, had I not remarked that part 



76 iMEMOIRS OF 

of my cavalry, hitherto of no use, as was like- 
wise that of the allies, from the nature. of the 
ground^ might, by crossing some ditches of 
no great breadth, and passing through some 
copses, by no means thick, decide the success, 
of my left, and ensure mine. It would seem 
that it is lying upon the field of battle which 
renders the victory certain. It was apparently 
out of politeness to the King of Spain that 
Vend o me ordered Te Deum to be sung. I was 
informed that the Duke of Mantua was by the 
side of that king during the whole battle, 
which gives me a high idea of his prudence. 
As for the Duke of Savoy, he had none of that 
kind of prudence ; he fought in his usual way, 
but displeased every body by his subtlety. He 
had been ill received when he repaired to the 
army of Philip V. who left it two days after 
the battle, and returned to Spain. Before I 
abandoned Mantua entirely, I attempted to 
gain admission into the city by means of my 
clandestine agents, but was again disappointed. 
A deserter prevented my being taken when on 
the point of falling into an ambuscade. I had 
done all that I could do: I had gained some 
glory and lost a great deal of ground. It was 



n-n 



PRINCE EUGENE. 77 

not mv fault : only consider the superiority of 
\ cudome's army, which was double the num- 
ber of mine. Of all my posts I retained Os- 
tiglia alone ; and yet 1 would not go into win 
ter quarters till I had seen the French into 
theirs. I sent Solari to cover the Trentino, 
and set out for Vienna, where I had not been 
for two years. 



1703. 

The emperor made me war-minister in- 
stead of Maosfeld. I told him that war could 
not be carried on without troops and money; 
that for six months the men had received none, 
and been in want of every necessary. I wished 
the other commanders to be better supplied 
than I had been ; and this was accordingly 
done. I put a stop to the peculations commit- 
ted in every department. I said to the empe- 
ror, " Your arrm, Sire, is your monarchy; 
without it your dominions will yet fall a prey 
to the 'Turks the French, or perhaps one of 
these days to the Hungarians. Your capital 
is a frontier town. Your Majesty has no for- 



78 MEMOIRS OF 

tress on any side ; every one is paid excepting 
those who serve you. Make peace, Sire, if 
you cannot carry on war ; and it is evident 
that you cannot without the money of England. 
What are your ministers doing, to take no ad- 
vantage of the hatred against France, and to 
embroil you with all Europe, even with your 
own subjects? Besides, if your Imperial Ma- 
jesty does not give me orders to bring over en- 
tirely to our side the Duke of Savoy, who is 
half gained already, you will never be fortu- 
nate in Italy. " I carried my point. This was 
the only ministerial success I met with this 
year ; and my only military success consisted 
in repulsing the Hungarian rebels so smartly 
as to prevent any farther alarm at Vienna, and 
to save Presburg. Though minister at war, 
I could not even give myself the army which 
Leopold had promised me, and was unable to 
do any thing farther. 



1704. 

This was no great deal indeed ; but at 
last, as I had foreseen, Carols, at the head of 



PRINCE EUGENE. 79 

the malcontents, entered the suburbs of Vienna 
on Easter Sunday. I know not why they were 
afraid, and did not proceed to the court; for 
I found it a difficult task to collect the little 
garrison and the citizens, whom I posted be- 
hind an entrenchment which I ordered to be 
hastily thrown up at St. Mark's, and which 
was afterwards continued on the right and left 
to the Danube. The few troops that we had 
between Vienna and Presburg, and between 
Presburg and Raab, had been dispersed. In 
vain I begged that reinforcements might be 
sent to them. Owing to this lesson, some were 
given to Heister, who cut off the retreat of 
the scouts that had been to Vienna, and de- 
feated the detachments coming to their aid. I 
went myself into Hungary to conduct the war 
for a moment, and then to conclude an ac- 
commodation with Ragotzi, Berezeni, &c. 

Leopold could never bear to hear plain 
truths but when he was afraid. Where is the 
mistress or the friend to whom they can be 
told with impunity — much less a great sove- 
reign, spoiled bv slaves, who accompany him 
every day to church, but not his generals to 



80 MEMOIRS 0^ 

war. In urgent cases I requested an extraor-* 
dinarj audience of him, as if I had been the 
ambassador of some foreign power, and this I 
obtained but very seldom A 

ec Forced levies. Once more/ said I; " mi- 
litia, a loan in Holland, which is good for no- 
thing else. Few taxes, but a kind of capita 
tion, and no bounties to monks and courtiers, 
though the court itself ought always to be 
magnificent. Of what use is it, in conferences 
with monied men, who are acquainted with 
the resources of states, and the specie of dif- 
ferent countries, to read memoirs to be discus- 
sed before your Majesty ? They laugh at our 
finances, while, for my part, I weep over them. 
Try to find out, if possible, a Colbert in your 
dominions." 

What I obtained was the power of nego* 
ciating quite alone, and I gained over to our 
side Queen Anne and Marlborough. I went 
to meet him at Heilbronn, to concert measures 
with him and Prince Louis of Baden, whom 
I had not seen for a considerable time. I 
took upon myself the defence of the lines of 



PRINCE EUGENE. 81 

Belie], and left them to follow Tallard, who 
>vas endeavouring- to join the Elector of Ba- 
varia. If I am not fortunate enough to pre- 
vent their junction, thought I, the worst 
that can befal me is to fight both together, 
which will save me the trouble of engaging 
them separately. Tallard and Marsin had 
two other sorts of presumption than Villeroy, 
and more understanding. The presumption 
of the one was founded on the victory gained 
bv him at Spire; that of the other on the 
divine protection, which, by the cabals of 
the pious, had certainly proved as beneficial 
to him as the patronage of the court. Tal- 
lard was as short-sighted morally as he was 
physically. Marsin was more clear-sighted, 
possessed more talents, but luckily no pru- 
dence. 

Had they exercised patience, without fight- 
ing me, they would have obliged me to aban- 
don Bavaria, for I had no place in that coun- 
try where I could form mv magazines, except 
Nordlingeo ; but these gentlemen were in a 
great hurry, and the elector was furious at 
the pillage which lhad suffered Marlborough 



82 MEMOIRS OF 

to commit, and who,, in consequence, became 
my firm friend. We sincerely loved and 
esteemed each other. He was indeed a great 
statesman and general. 

They had eighty thousand men, and so had 
we. Why were the French separated from 
the Bavarians ? Why did they encamp so far 
from the rivulet which would have embar- 
rassed us in the attack ? Why did they place 
twenty-seven battalions and twelve squadrons 
in Blenheim ? Why did they scatter so many 
troops in other villages ? Marlborough was 
more fortunate than I in his passage of the 
rivulet, and his fine attack. A little steep- 
ness of the bank occasioned my being half an 
hour later. My infantry behaved very well, 
but my cavalry very ill. I had a horse 
killed under me. Marlborough was checked, 
but not repulsed. I succeeded in rallying 
the regiments, which were shy at first, and 
led them four times to the charge. Marl- 
borough, with his infantry and artillery, and 
sometimes with his cavalry, cleared away that 
of the enemy, and took Blenheim. We were 
beaten for a moment by the gendarmerie, but 



PRINCE EUGENE. 83 

at length we threw them into the, Danube. 
I was under the greatest obligations to Marl- 
borough for his changes in the dispositions 
according to circumstances. A Bavarian 
dragoon took aim at me ; one of my Danes 
fortunately anticipated him. We lost nine 
thousand men; but twelve thousand eight 
hundred French killed, and twenty thousand 
eight hundred taken prisoners, prevented them 
this time from singing their usual Tc Deum 
for their defeats, which they never acknow- 
ledge. I wrote to the King of Prussia to 
inform him of the gallant conduct of Anhalt 
and his corps. 

The poor elector, with his corps, joined 
Villerov, who had marched to favour his re- 
treat. They mournfully embraced. " I have 
sacrificed my dominions for the king," said 
the former, " and I am ready to sacrifice my 
life for him." The duke and prince (for 
Marlborough was now created a prince of the 
empire), Louis of Baden, and I, went to 
amuse ourselves at Stuttgard. The second 
took Landau, the first Trarbach, while I 
narrowly missed the two Brisachs : the one 

y'2 



84 MEMOIRS OF 

because the governor of Fribourg mistook 
his way, and the other from the false delicacy 
of the lieutenant- colonel, whom I had di- 
rected to enter as a courier with some others, 
and who being unable to endure a caning 
from an overseer of the works of the place, 
ordered him to be fired upon. This was in- 
deed insisting very unseasonably on a point of 
honor, and the only occasion on which a 
man might, without disgrace, receive a thrash- 
ing. Had we succeeded, he would rather 
have been envied than reproached for it. I 
proceeded to Ingolstadt, which was on the 
point of surrendering, but was prevented by 
the valour of a French regiment, composed 
of brave deserters in the Bavarian service. 
They disregarded alike my promises and my 
threats : but astonishing them by the gene- 
rous offer of sending them home under an 
escort, that nothing might happen to them, 
they evacuated Ingolstadt ; and with the ex- 
ception of Munich, all Bavaria was our's, 
thanks to the treaty which I concluded with 
the electress. The conditions were hard ; 
she refused them; but by means of father 
Schuhmacher, a good Jesuit, her confessor, 



PRINCE EUGENE. 85 

I prevailed on her to sign them, and set out 
for Vienna. 



1705. 

Feeling for the condition of the Duke of 
Savoy, who had again become a staunch 
Austrian, and not being supported by the 
Court of Vienna, had been reduced to the 
brink of ruin; I represented it to the emperor. 
(i Well/" said he, " take him reinforcements, 
and command the army in Italy/' — " Sire/' I 
replied, ff I remember my last campaign, in 
which, being left without money and without 
troops, either through stupidity or roguery, 
malice or jealousy, I was made to relinquish 
the blockade of Mantua, to lose all the towns 
which I had taken, and to derive no benefit 
from my victory at Luzara. They inter- 
cepted my letters to your Majesty, and want 
to compromise my honor. I would rather 
lay all my employments at your feet, and re- 
tire I know not whither to spend my life in 
peace. Here are twenty two years of active 
service — the last ten of court storms and mor- 



86 MEMOIRS OF 

tifications. I did hope to reconquer one half 
of the Spanish succession, but notwithstanding 
my victory at Hochstett, I am still in fear for 
your Majesty's dominions,, which would have 
been lost, had I been defeated." 

Leopold promised me twenty-eight thousand 
men, punctually paid, and in want of nothing. 
I would not set off till they were gone, and 
proceeded to Roveredo. Mirandola had just 
surrendered : I entered the Bressano. Ven- 
dome marched to attack me, but having been 
prevented by me from occupying the height 
of Gavardo, he durst not. There it was that 
I heard of the death of the emperor; I had a 
greater love for Joseph I. who succeeded 
him ; but, as the son is almost always the 
reverse of the father, I was apprehensive that 
he would abandon the Duke of Savoy, for 
whom I was indeed responsible. So far from 
it, he wrote to me to continue, and imme- 
diately sent me one hundred thousand florins 
for the payment of the troops. 

Leopold possessed good qualities, but I 
know not why some Spanish and Austrian 



PRINCE EUGENE. 87 

flatterers have fried to call him Leopold the 
Great. The attempt to be sure has not suc- 
ceeded. He detested the French to such a 
degree that he forbade a single word of that 
language to be spoken at his court. I Jielped 
myself out with Italian, with which I am 
better acquainted than with German, though 
I find no difficulty to understand and to give 
orders in that language. 

Vend 6 me went away into Piedmont, and 
directed his brother, the grand prior, to 
starve me in my camp at Gavardo, in order 
to oblige me to quit the Bressano. I at- 
tempted to dislodge him from the villa of la 
C online, an important post. This led to a 
combat unparalleled for courage and re- 
sources; seven grenadiers defended the pi- 
g< on- ho use. Had \\ irtemberg set fire to the 
villa immediately on his arrival there, he 
must have been successful. The grand prior 
came to its relief: not daring to risk a general 
engagement, I attempted the passage of the 
Oglio. This was absolutely necessary, for 
tbe Duke of Savoy had nothing but Turin 



88 MEMOIRS OF 

left. I succeeded, but how ? I was obliged 
to employ artifice upon artifice, and to avail 
myself of the indolence of the grand prior, 

whom I knew to be fond of his bed, and to 
steal a march upon him under favor of the 
night. He strove, on rising, to retrieve this 
fault with incredible diligence; and when he 

had nearly overtaken me, I faced about to at- 
tack him. The position which he took made 
me afraid ; and contrary to my custom I 
called a council of war, pretty certain that it 

would decide against an attack. 

I suspected also that Toralba, the Spaniard, 
was not good for much I drove him out of 
Palazzuolo, threatening to shoot him if he 
threw into' the Oglio the provisions of which 
I was in the greatest want. He escaped to 
Bergamo. Visconti and Joseph of Lorraine, 
who were there wounded, came up with him, 
and instead of defending the height on which 
he was very advantageously posted, a few 
cannon-shot induced him to surrender with 
nine hundred men. Only imagine the rage 
and astonishment of the grand prior. Palaz- 



PRINCE EUGENE. 89 

zuolo and Ponte d'Oglio having surrendered, 
I advanced to cross the Adda, the only bar- 
rier of the Milanese. 

I went and took Soncino ; and learning 
that the Frencli head-quarters were at Sole- 
sino, I said to my generals : " Albergotii has 
certainly joined the grand prior, and from 
this bold movement I would wager that Ven- 
dome has come back to the army/' Of this 
I was still more strongly convinced, when, 
having ordered the post of Quatorze Naviles 
to be occupied by Vetzel, Vendome himself 
came to dislodge him. His grenadiers at- 
tacked the bridge, while other troops plunged 
into the. water on the right and left to take 
mv detachment on both flanks. Here was a 
display of valor, intelligence, and vivacity, 
the characteristics of the French soldier. 

Vendome wanted to fight, but I did not ; 
my object was to go by the Mantuan to the 
assistance of the Duke of Savoy; Vendome 
strove to prevent me. Vendome, without 
Uv'in'z BO negligent as his brother, had a little 
of his indolence. I stole a march upon him 



90 MEMOIRS OF 

during the night, and arrived in two forced 
marches on the banks of the Adda. I took 
possession of a magnificent country-house be- 
longing to the Jesuits of Bergamo, called II 
Paradiso. I had crossed the Adda quietly,, 
but one of my waggons with pontoons broke 
down by the way. 

The Adda, nearly a torrent at that moment, 
was not easy to pass ; its rapidity rendered it 
difficult to join the pontoons. Vendome had 
time to come up ; but a kind of amphitheatre 
composed of my grenadiers for the protection 
of the workmen, sickened him of the design 
to interrupt them. Colmenero, the Spaniard, 
apprised me of every thing. I determined to 
go and fight the grand prior ; he decamped, 
though slowly, in consequence of positive or- 
ders from his brother. I intended to cross 
the Adda by the bridge of Cassano; Ven- 
dome opposed me : each strove to outwit the 
other. I resolved to put an end to all this by 
a battle. I had been informed that Vend 6 me 
usually took a nap in the afternoon, from 
which no person durst awake him, for fear of 
putting him into an ill humor. Linange 



PRINCE EUGENE. 91 

made himself master of the villa and brida'c 
of Riforto; he was repulsed. I arrived there, 
recovered every thing*, and penetrated the left 
of the French. Veuciome came up also with 
his gilded troop, which was thinned in a mo- 
ment bv our fire. He had a horse killed un- 
der him, and received a ball through his 
boot. I received a musket- shot in the neck, 
and notwithstanding the blood, which flowed 
copiously, I remained till a second ball below 
the knee obliged me to retire to g;et my 
wounds dressed. The defeat of the French 
would have been certain, could I have taken 
a redoubt. I sent word to Anhalt to put an 
end to a firing which galled me in the centre 
and on the left. Ardent and brave as he was, 
he plunged with his horse into the Ritorto, 
followed by the Prussians, who were up to 
the chin in water ; he was wounded. Wiir- 
temberg did the same on the right, and was 
killed. The arms and ammunition of both 
having got wet, \\)ey were unable to return 
the fire of the French. They made them- 
selves masters of the Castle of Cassano. Ijc- 
bra, Rewentlau, and Joseph of Lorraine, a 
young prince of nineteen, fell while checking 



92 MEMOIRS OF 

the enemy, and firmly maintaining their 
ground on this side of the Ritorto, which 
they had been obliged to recross, and which 
the enemy respected as a barrier that I had 
appointed for him. He seemed to renounce 
all inclination to pass it, as I on my part gave 
up the passage of the Adda. If this can be 
called losing a battle, I acknowledge myself 
defeated. I went and took an excellent post 
at Trevigio. The self-termed conquerors 
were apparently in greater confusion than the 
"vanquished, for not a creature approached 
my rear. These would-be victors lost more 
men than those whom they gave out to be 
conquered ; they left me some standards and 
prisoners, and had thrown a great number of 
carriages into the canal. Though Vendome 
had been joined by his brother, who had 
slept at Rivalto, two leagues from the battle, 
and was on that account sent away from the 
army, he applied for reinforcements to La 
Feuillade, because he thought that I designed 
to attack him. I did not indeed effect a 
junction with the Duke of Savoy; but by 
these reinforcements which I obliged Ven- 
dome to require of La Feuillade, I frustrated 



PRINCE EUGENE. 03 

the plan for besieging- and taking Turin. 
Did I lose the battle ? I pretend not to de- 
cide the question. At any rate, I find no 
fault with m j self for having fought it. A 
signal success would have rendered me mas* 
ter of Italy; and the want of success, which 
is different from a reverse, and which I may 
ascribe to my two wounds, did not prevent 
me from resorting to my old tricks all the 
rest of the campaign against Vendome, and 
quietly taking up my winter-quarters behind 
the mountains at Cabsinato, Lunato, &c. 
Before I went into them, I had attempted 
some little enterprizes, all of which were 
frustrated by Vendome. Not to be beaten 
by such a man is more glorious than to beat 
another. I set out for Vienna. 



1706. 

Marlborough arrived at Vienna. I had 
written to him that his presence would be 
necessary. I presented him to the emperor: 
how he was received may easily be imagined. 
He helped me to obtain assistance for the 



94 MEMOIRS OF 

Duke of Savoy. " Queen Anne/* said he* 
rc sent me for this purpose. We will lend 
your imperial majesty twenty-five thousand 
pounds sterling, and I hope to beat the enemy 
in the Low Countries/' He returned thither,, 
and I to Italy. I arrived at Roveredo at the 
same time as the fugitives of my army, the 
command of which I bad given to Rewentlau, 
who had just sustained a defeat at Gabsinato. 
I had but too well cured Vendome of his in- 
dolence, Informed of my departure from 
Vienna, he bad got the start of me in re- 
joining his army. He had counterfeited ill- 
ness, and taken medicines before a great 
number of persons, as if he had actually been 
sick ; but all at once throwing away his 
draughts, his robe de chambre, and his night- 
cap, he mounted his horse in the night be- 
tween the 18th and 19th of April, for this 
superb expedition. I rallied the fugitives, 
and hastened to Gavardo to prevent Vendome 
from cutting off my communication with the 
Trent i no. Vendome used astonishing dis- 
patch in all his movements ; I had great dif- 
ficulty in getting away from him. Never 
had I yet so bard a task. I nevertheless con- 



TRINCE EUGENE. 95 

trived to make myself master of several posts, 
with a view to secure the bank of the Adige. 
This was highly requisite, in order to raise 
the siege of Turin. 

Luckily, thanks to the discernment of Louis 
XIV. La Fcuillade was charged with the 
conduct of the siege. The city had been 
very imperfectly invested ; two posts were 
unoccupied. Vendome was watching my mo- 
tions from the other side of the Adige; it 
was, notv.it hstanding, absolutely necessary 
for me to cross that river. Another Venetian 
commandant took it into his head to refuse 
me a passage at la Badia. I ordered the 
gate to be broken open by my grenadiers, and 
percei\ing that Vend S me was no longer with 
the army, haying gone to Milan to resign the 
command to the Duke of Orleans, I (irst re- 
turned thanks to God for it, and without 
giving myself much trouble, I deluded the 
French, who were guarding three posts, and 
crossed the Adige, where they least expected 
me. 

Tesse had lost Spain at Barcelona ; Ville- 



96 MEMOIRS OF 

roy the Low Countries at RamilHes, and La 
Feuillade could not help losing Italy. I 
crossed the Tanaro and the Po. Vendome 
had carried with him the love., the heart, and 
the spirit of the French. I passed the See- 
ch ia and the Canal of Ledo, and again thank- 
ed God for having taken Vendome away from 
me. The Duke of Parma sent me compli- 
ments, forage* and allowances for the troops, 
in his dominions. The Duke of Savoy dis- 
patched a lord belonging to his court to entreat 
me to come to him. He was unpleasantly 
situated with his little corps out of the city, 
the command of which he had left to Daun. 
To the former I wrote that all would soon 
end well; and to the latter that, intending to 
be at Nice de la Faille on the SOih of Au- 
gust, I would soon deliver to him in Turin, 
as a reward for his fine defence, the appoint- 
ment of general of infantry, which the em- 
peror had given me for him. I caused Goito 
to be taken by the Prince of Hesse, and 
Asiradella by Kirschbaum. I marched only 
in the night, on account of the heat, by which 
we were greatly incommoded. I crossed the 
Bormida, and having rested on the 27th 



PRINCE EUGENE. 97 

quite close t* the Tanaro, I entered Piedmont, 
at the place which I had mentioned to the 
commandant of Turin, two days earlier than I 
had promised him a fortnight before. Ivory 
quickly acquainted him with my arrival, at 
the same time ordering him to thank his brave 
garrison in my name. c ■ That great calcula- 
tor, Catinat," said I to myself, ff and the active 
and rapid Vendome (when it was necessary 
for him to be so), would not have suffered me 
to do all this/' Once more I returned thanks 
to heaven, for when one is fortunate, one is 
devout. 4f Probably," said I again to myself, 
"the extensive power and shallow under- 
standing of Marsin, counteract the abilities 
and valor of the Duke of Orleans." I went 
to join the Duke of Savoy, below Carmagnole, 
and our soldiers, when they saw us embrace, 
threw their hats into the air, shouting : 
(C Long live Joseph I. and Victor Ameda^us \" 
and I think I heard some cries too of u Long 
live Eugene !" 

La Feuillade made an assault on the 30th, 
and was repulsed with great loss. The Duke 
of Orleans, more skilful than his two col- 

t 



98 MEMOIRS OF 

leagues, wanted to march against me. Marsin 
told him, in the council of war, that probably 
I was only anxious to throw succours into the 
city: and that with the rest I should be a 
spectator of its fall. All the generals agreed 
in opinion with the Duke of Orleans. Marsin 
produced a paper signed by the king. The 
prince flew into a passion, ci Gentlemen/* 
said he, " 1 find that I have a tutor. Let my 
post chaise be got ready, I shall be gone/' 
He did not however depart, because he had 
a desire to light. I sent Visconti to intercept 
a considerable convoy. 

Turin had held out four months, and could 
resist no longer; we marched at length to its 
reli f. The Duke of Savoy and I ascended 
a height, from which we beheld uncertain 
movements in the enemy's camp. " Those 
people/' said I, "are already half beaten, 
cousin." All our artillery gave a tremendous 
discharge. The battle began; the Duke of Savoy 
and myself ran whithersoever we thought our 
presence needful. This time he fought in 
good earnest, and with all his heart, as one 
might be sure he would, since it was pro domo 



PRINCE EtGENE. 99 

sua The right wing was at first repulsed, 

because it could not attack so soon as the left. 
Anhalt set all to rights again with his brave 
Prussian infantry, and I at the head of some 
squadrons. Fur an hour and a half some 
advantages were gained on either side; it was 
a carnage but not a battle. Our troops at 
length leaped into the entrenchments of the 
French, but threw themselves into disorder in 
the pursuit. Three pieces of cannon, well 
posted, checked the carbineers, who, but for 
this, would have roughly handled my cuiras- 
siers, and perhaps my infantry. In rallying the 
Tatter, whose character had been already some- 
what slurred, one of my pages and a valet de 
chambre were killed behind me, and my horse, 
wounded with a carbine-shot, threw me into 
a ditch. I was thought to be dead, and it$ is 
said that for a very short time this produced 
some effect on the troops. The order which 
I gave when getting again on horseback 
covered with mud, dust, and blood, to Stah- 
renberg's regiment to pour a volley upon the 
French cavalry, relieved my infantry of the 
latter, and it maintained its ground in that 
part of the lines which it had forced. Their 

6 V 

L.ofC. 



100 MEMOIRS OF 

centre stood firm. Rehbinder was thrice Re- 
pulsed by the Duke of Orleans, who received 
two musket-balls. It was the Duke of Savoy 
who at length forced his way in person into 
the entrenchments. 

We were now enabled to give assistance to 
the Prince of Saxe Gotha, who performed 
wonders on the right, but could not succeed 
on account of the Castle of Lueento. The 
Saxons then leaped into the entrenchments, 
forced Pont Cassine, and in every quarter the 
victory was looked upon as won, when the 
enemy rallied and attacked us in the field of 
battle, of which we had just made ourselves 
masters. Daun, though pressed by La Feuil- 
lade, made a sally at this critical moment, and 
decided the victory. I know not how things 
might have turned out, if Albergotti had not 
been silly enough to remain a spectator upon 
the heights of the Capuchins with forty 
battalions. So much is certain, that, but for 
this, the most obstinately contested battle I 
ever saw might have lasted much longer; 
though, not expecting so stupid a procedure, I 
had troops in readiness to take him in flank, if 



PRTNCE EUGENE, 301 

lie had attempted to come down to me. This 
was the 7th of September. 

My good fortune bad decreed that Marsin, 
who fell in this engagement, should wait forme 
with his eighty thousand men behind his lines; 
if he had come out to attack me first, and to 
turn me, I should have been a good deal 
embarrassed with my thirty thousand. I was 
under great obligations in this affair to two 
French officers, Bonneval and Langallerie, 
imprudent men, who turned out ill, but to 
whom I was then much attached for their 
bravery and intelligence. I had some in- 
fluence with the Emperor Joseph, and had 
taken them as generals into his service. 'Tis 
a pity they turned out as they did : they pre- 
tended to be free-thinkers, who are almost 
always unsteady. The affectation of irreligion, 
is, independent of its foolish impiety, a mark 
of bad taste. 

Before I gave myself up entirely to joy, 
fearing lest the discomfited besiegers should 
endeavor to cover the Milanese, I took out 
my perspective-glass, which I never me but 



102 MEMOIRS OF 

when I cannot approach near to reconnoitre 5 
and perceiving them flying rather than re~ 
treating, toward Pignerol, I said to the Duke 
of Savoy : iC Italy is ours, cousin/* 

It may easily be imagined how we were 
received in Turin, where the little gunpowder 
left in the city was scarcely sufficient to fire 
a general salute of artillery during the Te 
Ream. " This time at least/' said I to Daun, 
whom I cordially embraced, -I think Louis 
XIV. will not order Te Deum to be sung at 
Paris." 

The day after the great battle, the Prince 
of Hesse was defeated in a little affair by 
Medavi; but this did me no harm : I con- 
tinued the pursuit. The Vaudois put the 
fugitives to the sword. We took Chivas, 
Novara, Milan, the citadel of which we 
blockaded; Lodi, Pizzighitone, Tortona,, 
Alexandria, Seravalle, and Casal. Proceeding 
thence to reconnoitre the post of Caracorta, I 
received a very severe contusion from a musket* 
ball, on my left arm, 



PRIXCE EUGENE. 103 



1707. 

Our generalissimo remained well pleased 
at Turin, while I went into winter-quarters: 
and both of us agreed to lav sie^e to Toulon, 
after we had taken the citadels of Milan and 
of Modena, auci some other small posts, 
which induced Louis XIV. to make us an 
offer to evacuate Italy. We acquiesced on 
condition of his restoring something to the 
Duke of Mantua., Mirandola to its duke, and 
a good deal to the Duke of Savoy, as his 
compensation. Daun signed the convention 
on our side, and St. Pater on that of the 
French., on the 7th of March. 

I know not what induced Joseph I. to send 
me to the Rhine instead of the Prince of 
Baden. I wrote to him that it was certainly 
a trick of my enemies, that it was contrary to 
my wish, and that I was in a fair way in this 
country. I did not indeed anticipate the 
failure of our plan against Toulon : we should 



104 MEMOIRS OF 

infallibly have taken that city, had we not 
been obliged to lose time in the conquest 
of Naples,, where a conspiracy was formed in 
favor of the House of Austria. Two cursed 
cardinals, Grimani and Pignatelli, who were 
engaged in it, over-ruled the Duke of Savoy's 
opinion and mine ; absent persons have but 
little influence at court. Louis XIV. would 
have been more mortified by the conquest of 
Dauphine, Languedoc, and Provence. In vain 
did Tesse oppose our passage of the moun- 
tains : I passed them on the 4th of July., at 
the Col de Tende,, and the Duke of Savoy,, 
and the other corps elsewhere. We crossed 
the Var, marched to Frejus, and arrived 
before Toulon. 

The Duke of Savoy directed me to carry 
the heights of St. Catherine, where I posted 
the young Prince of Saxe Gotha. The Duke 
of Savoy promised him a reinforcement of four 
battalions, if he should be attacked ; but they 
could not reach him in time. Never did the 
French make so sudden and so furious an 
attack. This prince, who though but twenty 
years of age, was a lieutenant-general in the 



PRINCE EUGENE. 103 

armies of the emperor, of England, and of 
Holland, handsome and accomplished in every 
way, defended himself like a lion. He had 
already lost a great number of his men: two 
hundred were jet left him ; these were reduced 
to thirty or forty, to whom he said : — " My 
friends, let us at least die like men of honor." 
He was instantly killed by two musket-balls. 
Works, entrenchments, batteries, were all 
ruined and carried. Every thing was to be 
begun again. I was iuconsolable for the loss 
of the young prince; but I was somewhat 
comforted for the loss of St. Catherine's by 
the taking of the forts of St. Margaret and St. 
Louis. In secret, however, I said to myself: 
Of what use will this be to us? Tesse made 
excellent arrangements in the city, and I 
shrewdly suspected that the expedition to 
Naples which had retarded the arrival of the 
English and Dutch fleet before Toulon, had 
frustrated our attempt. But such are cabinets, 
parliaments, states-general, and coalitions ! 
We ought, as I had proposed, to have march- 
ed straightway to Toulon, after the expulsion 
of the French from Lombardy. Nevertheless, 
but forthe bravery and talents of Tesse, and the 



106 MEMOIRS OF 

unfortunate affair in which my beloved Prince 
of Gotha fell, we should have been successful. 

I left to the Duke of Savoy the honor of 
proposing to raise the siege^and took good care 
not to oppose him. I fully expected, as it turned 
out, that the English would accuse him of a 
secret understanding with the French. They 
were angry at havingbeenputto so much useless 
expence ; they ought to be forgiven. I wrote 
to Marlborough that they were wrong, and 
that this time the Duke of Savoy had by 
accident behaved most honorably towards us ; 
but his conduct had not been exactly such 
towards the inhabitants of Provence, whom he 
had severely fleeced : he moreover caused their 
olive-trees to be cut down and pulled up by 
the roots, and took away plants and seeds to 
carry them to his own country. Detested as 
he was, he was often annoyed on his retreat : 
mine was executed with less interruption. 
On the 25th of July, my army arrived at 
Frejus; I prevented Medavi, who attempted 
to obstruct my march in the defiles and the 
passage of the Var, which I accomplished 
without molestation, 



PRINCE EUGENE. 10? 

Vexed at having made a campaign without 
any success, I went and took Suza, the only 
place left to the French on this side of the 
mountains. I repaired to Turin to provide 
winter-quarters; to Milan to fix the contri- 
butions of the Italian princes ; and to Vienna 
to settle the plan of operations of the ensuing 
campaign. 

One ought not to appear dissatisfied at 
court : I hate grumblers, even though they 
have reason to grumble. From the closet ill- 
natured sarcasms find their way to the parlour, 
from the parlour to the dining-room, and 
thence, in consequence of the imprudent 
practice of speaking before servants, to the 
public-houses; all this afterwards produces 
upon the common people an impression that is 
liable to become dangerous. Being sure that 
Joseph I. would be embarrassed on seeing 
me, because he had not believed me; I 
observed, as I ought, a respectful, but likewise 
easy behavior towards him. He was gratified 
by it, and scolded me for having exposed 
myself too much. It is easy to imagine what 
answer I i^ave to this kind reproach. " You 



108 MEMOIRS OF 

have expelled the French/' said he, " from 
Bavaria and Italy; go and drive them from 
the Low Countries. Rest yourself, and set off 
on the 26th of March for various courts, and 
set the coalition to work according to yoer 
wishes and mine/* 



1708. 

On the 31st of March I was already at Dres-» 
den, and obtained a promise of king Augustusto 
send me a body of his troops, I then went to 
Hanover, and received the same promise from 
the elector. I proceeded to the Hague, where 
I cordially embraced Marlborough, who had 
come thither on the same business. We both 
pressed Heinsius and Fagel for assistance; 
assuring them, that to prevent the enemy 
from laying siege to the strong places, we 
would gain a battle as speedily as possible. 
I appeased, as well as I could, those gentle- 
men, who were dissatisfied, because the 
emperor had not made peace with the Hun- 
garian rebels, nor appropriated to his own use 
the revenues of Naples,, the Milanese, an_$ 



PRINCE EUGENE. 109 

Bavaria. I went next to Dusseldorf, to pacify 
the Elector Palatine, who was likewise angry 
with the emperor Joseph I. respecting the 
Upper Palatinate. I returned to Hanover 
with Marlborough, to press the elector; went 
to Leipsic to urge King Augustus, whom 
found there, once more ; and after proceeding 
to Vienna to give an account of my successful 
ncgociations, I was immediately sent off again 
to Frankfurt, to confer with the electors of 
Mentz and Hanover, and Rechteren, the 
Dutch minister. I circulated a report that 
this journey was undertaken for the sake of 
my health, and that the physicians had ordered 
me to use the waters of Schlangenbad. I said 
to all these petty allies, " It is your interest; 
a great emperor would live at your expcnce, 
if you did not exist, and would perhaps be 
better off on that account. If you do not. 
protect yourselves by defending him, beware 
lest another Louvois lay waste the empire 
with fire and sword." 

I have always taken for the foundation of 
my politics the interests of the persons with 
whom I had to do, and have detested court- 



110 MEMOIRS OF 

flatterers, who say/ " These princes are per- 
sonally attached to your majesty." It is thus 
that they strengthen the self-love of sovereigns, 
who, besides, like to be told "every thing is 
going on well, in the best manner, or is likely 
to be retrieved," 

Villars was not duped by the prescriptions 
of the faculty for the cure of diseases, with 
which I was not afflicted. He wrote to a 
prisoner whom he sent back to me : " If you 
belong to the army which Prince Eugene is 
going to command, assure him of my respect. 
I understand that he is going to the baths on 
the 20th of June: but if I recollect right, he 
was not formerly so attentive to his health. 
We shall soon see what sort of baths he means 
to use." I assembled my army of Austrians 
and German allies at CobSentz, where I had a 
long conference with the Elector of Treves. 
The French had one hundred thousand men 
in the Low Countries ; Marlborough had but 
sixty thousand, I received orders to march 
to his support: I directed my troops to pro- 
ceed by forced marches, while I went post 
myself, fearful lest a battle should be fought 



PRINCE EUGENE. Ill 

without me. Cadogan came to compliment 
me to Maestricht, He told me that the 
French had surprised Ghent, Bruges, and 
Plaskendall, and that my presence was want- 
ed. I passed through Brussels, where my 
interview with my mother, after a separation 
of twenty-five years, was very affecting, but 
very short. I found Marlborough encamped 
at Asch, between Brussels and Alo=t ; and 
learning that the enemy had their left on the 
other side of the Dendre,! asked Marlborough 
on my arrival if it was not his intention to 
give battle. " I think I ought," replied he 
immediately ; ct and I find with pleasure, but 
without astonishtaentj that we have both made 
the reflection, that without, this our commu- 
nication with Brussels would be cut off: but 
u Id like to have waited for your troops." 
" I would not advise you to wait," replied 
I, " for the French would have time to 
retreat." 

Vendome wanted to dispute the passage of 
the Dendre. He told the Duke of Burgundy, 
whom bad advisers persuaded to march to 
Ghent: u When you perceive in Princi 



112 MEMOIRS OF 

Eugene a desire to avoid an engagement, he 
knows how to force you to one." This ex- 
pression I saw in the vindication of his conduct, 
which he priited on his return to Paris. 

Cadogan went to Oudenarde, and in a few 
hours threw a bridge across the Scheldt. " It 
is still time/* said Vendome to the Duke of 
Burgundy, <c to discontinue your march, and 
to attack, with the troops which we have here, 
that part of the allied army which has passed 
the river. "' The duke hesitated, stopped on the 
height of Gavres, lost time, would have turned 
back, sent twenty squadrons to dispute the pas- 
sage, recalled them, and said, se Let us march 
to Ghent." " It is too late," said "Vendome, 
"you cannot now; in half an hour, perhaps, 
you will have the enemy upon you." " Why 
then did you stop me ?'' rejoined the Duke of 
Burgundy. cc To begin the attack im- 
mediately," replied he. "Cadogan yonder, is 
already master of the village of Hume and of 
six battalions. Let us draw up at least in the 
best manner we can." Raotzau commenced 
the attack. He overthrew a column of 
cavalry, and would have been routed in his 



PRINCE EUGENE. 113 

turn, but for the electoral Prince of Hanover, 
who in the conflict had his horse killed under 
him. Grimaldi too early and injudiciously 
ordered a charge* cc What are vou doing?" 
cried Vend o me j coming up at full gallop, 
" vou arc wrong." — c< It is by the Duke of 
Burgundy's orders/' replied he. The latter, 
vexed at being contradicted, thought only 
how to cross the other. Vendome was giving 
orders to charge the left. (C What are vou 
doing?" said the Duke of Burgundy: "I 
forbid it ; there is an impassable ravine and 
morass/' Let any one judge of the indigna- 
tion of Vendome, who had passed over the 
spot but a moment before. But for tin's mis- 
understanding, we should perhaps have been 
defeated ; for our cavalry was engaged a full 
half hour before the infantry could join it* 
For the same reason, I directed the village of 
Hume to be abandoned, that I might send the 
battalions by which it was occupied, to sup* 
port the squadrons on the left wing. But the 
Duke of Argyle arrived with all possible ex- 
pedition, at the head of the English infantry ; 
and then came the Dutch, though much more 
slowly. ff Now," said I to Marlborough^ 

H 



114 MEMOIRS OF 

<c we are in a condition to fight." It was six 
in the evening of the 11th of July; we had 
yet three hours of day-light. I was on the 
right, at the head of the Prussians. Some 
battalions turned their backs, on being at- 
tacked with unequalled fury. _. They rallied, 
retrieved their fault, and we recovered the 
ground they had lost. The battle then became 
general along the whole line. The spectacle 
was magnificent. It was one sheet of fire. 
Our artillery made a powerful impression ; 
that of the French being injudiciously posted, 
in consequence of the uncertainty which pre- 
vailed in the army, on account of the disunion 
of its commanders, produced very little effect. 
With us it was quite the contrary; we loved 
and esteemed one another. Even the Dutch 
Marshal Ouverkerke, venerable for his age 
and services, my old friend and Marlbo- 
rough's, obeyed us, and fought to admi- 
ration. 

The following circumstance may serve to 
prove our harmony. Matters were going ill 
on the right, where I commanded. Marl- 
borough, who perceived it, sent me a rein- 



PRINCE EUGENE. U5 

forceraentof eighteen battalions, without which 
I should scarcely have been able to keep my 
ground. I then advanced, and drove in the 
first line; but at the head of the second, I 
found Vendome on foot, with a £ike in his 
hand, encouraging the troops. He made so 
vigorous a resistance, that I should not have 
succeeded but for Natzmer, at the head of 
the King of Prussia's gendarmes, who broke 
through the line, and enabled me to obtain a 
complete victory. 

Marlborough purchased his more dearly 
on the left, where he attacked in front, while 
Ouverkerke dislodged the enemy from the 
hedges and villages. Nassau, Fries, and Ox- 
enstiern, drove the infantry beyond the defiles, 
but they were roughly handled by the king's 
household troops, who came to its assistance. 
I rendered the same service to the duke. I 
sent Tilly, who, making a considerable circuit, 
took the brave household troops, which had 
nearly snatched the victory from us, in the 
rear : but this decided the business. The 
darkness of the night prevented our pursuit, 
and enabled me to execute a scheme for 
u2 



116 MEMOIRS OF 

increasing the number of our prisoners. I 
sent out drummers in different directions, with 
orders to beat the retreat after the French 
manner, and posted my French refugee officers, 
with directions to shout on all sides : — Here 
Picarcly ! Here Champagne ! Here Piedmont ! 
The French soldiers flocked in, and I made a 
good harvest of them: we took in all about seven 
thousand. The Dukeof Burgundy, and his evil 
counsellors, had long before, withdrawn. Yen- 
dome collected the relics of the army, and took 
charge of the rear. 

As it was so dark that we had begun 
to fire upon each other, Marlborough waited 
for day-light, to attack the enemy before 
he reached Ghent. His detachment found 
him but too soon. Vendome had posted his 
grenadiers to the right and left of the high- 
road, and they put our cavalry, which pur- 
sued them, to the rout. Vendome by this 
saved the remnant of his army, which en- 
tered Ghent in the utmost confusion, with 
the Dukes of Burgundy and Berry, and the 
Count of Toulouse. His presence stopped, 
pacified, and cheered the soldiers. 



PRINCE EUGENE. 117 

They all held a council of war at the inn 
called the Golden Apple. The opinion of the 
princes and their courtiers was, as usual, de- 
testable. Ven do me grew warm, expressed 
his indignation at having been crossed by 
them, and declared that, determined not 
to be served in the same manner again, 
he should order the army to encamp behind 
the canal of Bruges at Lovendeghem. I pitied 
him from the bottom of my heart, as I had 
done the Elector of Bavaria, in 1704., and the 
Duke of Orleans, in 1706. 

As I was sure that Marlborough could 
make no arrangements but what were excel- 
lent, I went the day after the battle to see my 
mother at Brussels. What tears of affection 
did she shed on beholding me again with some 
addition of glory ! I told her, however, that 
Marlborough's portion seemed greater than 
mine, as at Hochstett. The joy of revenge 
mingled a little in that occasioned by our vic- 
tory. She was glad to see the king humbled, 
who had left her for another woman in his 
youth, and exiled hex in his old age. It is re- 
markable that in her's she married the Duke 



118 MEMOIRS OF 

D'Ursel, without assuming his name. No- 
body knew this : it could not have been a 
match of conscience or convenience, but pro- 
bably of ennui and idleness. We could not 
help being rather merry on the subject of his 
former devices and his Place des Victoires. 

The fifteen days which I thus passed with 
her, were the most agreeable of my life. I 
parted from her with the more pain, as it was 
probable that we should not see each other 
again. On the last day of my visit the troops 
from the Moselle arrived. We were then as 
strong as the French. I sent eight battalions 
to reinforce Marlborough's corps, which co- 
vered Flanders. I left the rest to cover Brus- 
sels, and rejoined him at the camp of Elchin. 
He, Ouverkerke, and myself, agreed upon 
sending a strong detachment to lay waste Ar- 
tois and Picardy, and thus compel Vendome 
to leave his camp. Vend6me, who guessed 
our intention, remained immoveable. I pro- 
posed the siege of Lisle : the deputies of the 
states-general thought fit to be of a different 
opinion: Marlborough was with me, and they 
were obliged to hold their tongues. The siege 



PRINCE EUGENE. 119 

was committed to me, while Marlborough was 
to cover it against the army of the Duke of Bur- 
gundy. The latter, with sixty thousand men, 
encamped near Pont des Pierres ; and I, with 
forty thousand, after investing the city, took up 
m) head-quarters at the Abbey of Loos, on the 
13th of August. The brave and skilful Bouf- 
flers, with a garrison of sixteen battalions, and 
four regiments of dragoons, cut out plenty of 
work for me. The job, so far from being- 
easy, was a dangerous one; for Mons was not 
in our possession. My first attack on Fort Ca- 
telen was repulsed; the works undertaken the 
same day, to drain a large pond which was in 
my way, a'so failed. I ordered epaulements 
to be made, for the fire of the place annoyed 
us to such a degree, that a cannon-ball carried 
off the head of the valet of the Prince of 
Orange, at the moment when he was putting 
on his ma-ter's shirt. It may easily be sup- 
posed that he was obliged to take another, and 
to shift his quarters. I opened the trenches, 
and on the 23rd the besieged made a sortie, 
when Lieutenant general Betendorff, who com- 
manded there, was taken prisoner. Boufflers 
treated him exceedingly well. The festival of 
St. Louis, which he celebrated with three ge- 



120 MEMOIRS OF 

neral discharges of all his artillery, cost us 
some men. In the night, between the 26th 
and 27th, the besieged made a terrible sortie ; 
I gained the post of the mill of St. Andrew; 
Bouffi'ers retook it; and I there lost six 
hundred men. 

Marlborough sent me word that Berwick 
having reinforced the Duke of Burgundy, 
the army, now one hundred and twenty thou- 
sand strong, was marching to the relief of 
Lisle. The deputies of the states-general, 
always interfering in every thing, and always 
dying of fear, asked me for a reinforce- 
ment for him. I went to his camp to offer 
him one : he said, c< Let us go together, 
and reconnoitre the ground between the 
Deule and the Marck." After we had exa- 
mined it, he said, tc I have no occasion for 
one, I shall only move my camp nearer to 
your's." Vendome proposed not to lose a day, 
but instantly attack the army of observation, 
and the besieging force. cc I cannot/' said 
the Duke of Burgundy; " I have sent a -cou- 
rier to my grandfather to enquire his plea- 
sure. *•' Conferences were held at Versailles, 
and the king sent his booby Chamillard to his 



PRINCE EUGENE. 121 

grandson's camp ; he went up with him into 
the steeple of the village of Sedin, to view our 
two armies, and decided against giving us 
battle. 

I cannot imagine how Ycndome could help 
running mad ; another, with less zeal, would 
have sent every thing to the devil ; and he, a 
better grandson of a King of France than the 
other, took the trouble, the day before, to go 
so close to Marlborough's position to recon- 
noitre, that he was grazed by a cannon-ball. 
I had returned to Marlborough's camp to be 
his volunteer, if he had been attacked. 

But, while I think of it, a Chamillard, that 
is, in one word, a young prince of no character, 
and an old king who had lost his, were quite 
sufficient to fill Vendome's heart with rage. He 
was obliged by them to retreat, as if he had 
been beaten. I continued the siege, sure of 
not being interrupted, and took the redoubt of 
the gate of Flanders, and some others ; but 
after three hour's fighting for one of the most 
important, I was driven back and pursued to 
my trenches. I scarcely stirred from them, 



132 MEMOIRS OF 

having the King of Poland and all my young 
princes at my side, for it was necessary to set 
an example, and to give orders. I directed 
two assaults to be made, to facilitate the tak- 
ing of the covered way; always repulsed, hut 
a horrible carnage. Five thousand English, 
sent me by Marlborough to retrieve my losses, 
performed wonders, but were thrown into dis- 
order. We heard the cry of Vive le Roi el 
Bonffiers ! I said a few words in English to 
those brave fellows who rallied round me; I 
led them back into the lire; but a ball below 
the left eye knocked me down senseless. Every 
body thought me dead, and so did I too. They 
found a dung-cart, in which I was conveyed 
to my quarters ; first my life, and then my 
sight was despaired of. I recovered both. 
The ball had struck me obliquely. Here was 
another unsuccessful attack ; out of five thou- 
sand men, not fifteen hundred returned ; and 
twelve hundred workmen were there killed. 

Being prevented for sometime by my wound 
from interfering in any thing, I left the com- 
mand of the siege to Marlborough, who deli- 
vered his to Ouverkerke. He effected a lodg- 



PRINCE EUGENE. 123 

ment in a tcnaillon on the left, but a mine 
baffled the assault and the assailants. Marl- 
borough countermined some, and took all 
possible pains to spare me trouble on my 
return, lie obliged me to dine in public, in 
order to cheer mv army, and returned to his 
own. 

The Chevalier de Luxembourg eluded me, 
and introduced ammunition, of which the be- 
sieged were in great want ; and a captain, 
named Dubois, eluded me, and swam with a 
note from Bo u filers to the Duke of Burgundy, 
informing him, that though the trenches had 
been open forty days, I was not yet completely 
master of any of the works. " Nevertheless, 
Monseigneur," added he, " I cannot hold out 
beyond the 15th or 20th of October." 

I was in want of powder. A single letter 
from Marlborough to his friend Queen Anne, 
occasioned a quantity to be sent me, with 
fourteen battalions, by the fleet of Vice-admi- 
ral Bvng, who landed them at Ostend. Every 
bod) is acquainted with the stupidity of La- 
raottc, who not only suffered this convoy to 



124 MEMOIRS OF 

reach rcie, but got a sound drubbing for 
his whole corps that was intended to prevent 
it. Being completely recovered from my 
wound, I was night and day at the works, 
which Boufflers, also present every where, 
was incessantly interrupting or annoying. 

I bethought me of a stratagem to give fre- 
quent alarms for several nights, at a half- 
moon, with a view to attack it afterwards in 
open day, being persuaded that the wearied 
soldiers would take that time for repose. This 
scheme succeeded. I ordered an assault upon 
a salient angle, and that succeeded. I directed 
the covered way to be attacked, and again 
succeeded. I thence made a breach in the 
curtain, and enlarged another in a bastion ; 
and when I was at length working at the de- 
scent of the ditch, the marshal, who had every 
day invented some new artifice; sometimes 
tin boxes, at others, earthen pots, filled with 
grenades, and done all that science could sug- 
gest, offered to capitulate on the 22nd of Sep- 
tember, without mentioning any conditions. 
I promised to sign such as he should propose 
to me. " This, M. Je Marechal/' so I wrote 



PRINCE EUGENE. 125 

to him, " is to show you my perfect regard 
for your person, and I am sure that a brave 
man like you will not abuse it. I congratu- 
late you on your excellent defence/' 

My council of war, which I summoned 
out of politeness, objected to the article that 
the citadel should not be attacked on the side 
next the town. I yielded, having my plan in 
my head, and wrote to Boufflers : e< Certain 
reasons, Af. Le Marechal, prevent me from 
Signing this article, but I give you my word 
of honor to observe it. I hope in six weeks to 
give you fresh proofs of my admiration. 5 ' 
Boufflers retired into the citadel, and I en- 
tered the town with Marlborough, the King 
of Poland, the Landgrave of Hesse, &c. In 
the morning we went to church, and at night 
to the play ; and all the business of the capi- 
tulation being finished on the 29th of October, 
I the same day ordered the trenches to be 
opened before the citadel. 

Before 1 proceed to this siege, I ought to 
relate a circumstance which happened to me 
during that of the city. A clerk of the post- 



126 MEMOIRS OF 

office wrote to the secretary of general Dopf, 
desiring him to deliver to me two letters, one 
from the Hague, and the other I know not 
whence. I opened the latter, and found 
nothing but a greasy paper. Persuaded, as 
I still am, that it was a mistake, or something 
of no consequence, which I might perhaps 
have been able to read had I taken the trouble 
to hold the paper to the fire, I threw it away. 
Somebody picked it up, and it was said that 
a dog about whose neck it was tied, died 
poisoned in the space of twenty-four hours. 
What makes me think this untrue, is, that at 
Versailles they were too generous, and at 
Vienna too religious, for such a trick. 

The ninth day the besieged made a vigorous 
sortie. The Prince of Brunswick, who re- 
pulsed it, received a wound from a musket-ball 
in the head. The eleventh, a still more vigor- 
ous sortie of the Chevalier de Luxembourg^ 
who drove my troops from the branches of 
the trenches, and made us fall back to St. 
Catherine's. An excellent officer of my staff 
had his head shot off by a cannon-ball by my 
side. The enemy lost a great number of men 



PRINCE EUGENE. 127 

before be returned to tbe citadel. I caused 
every thing to be repaired. 

I was now suddenly obliged to abandon 
the siege, leaving the direction of it to Prince 
Alexander of Wiirtemberg. The Elector of 
Bavaria was engaged in that of Brussels, 
Marlborough and I made him raise it after a 
pretty battle, and some excellent well-corn* 
bined manoeuvres, of which he had all the 
honor, for I could not pass the Scheldt where 
I wanted. The Elector of Bavaria was some- 
what ashamed. The French princes would 
have been so too, had not their joy on return- 
ing to Versailles prevented them, 

I went back to the siege; but what a 
change ! The marshal had taken advantage of 
my absence to drive the besiegers from the 
first covered way, of which I had left them 
in possession. After regaining it, as well as 
the other posts that had been abandoned, I 
wrote as follows to the brave Boufflers : "The 
French army has retired, M. le Marerhal, 
toward Tournay, the Elector of Bavaria to 
Xamur, and the princes to their courts; Snare 



12S MEMOIRS OF 

yourself and your brave garrison; I will again 
sign whatever you please." His answer was s 
ce There is yet no occasion to be in a hurry. 
Permit me to defend myself as long as I can; 
I have still enough left to do to render myself 
more worthy of the esteem of the man whom 
I respect above all others/' I gave orders 
for the assault of the second covered way. 
The king of France apparently anticipated 
this, for he wrote to the marshal to surrender. 
Notwithstanding his repugnance to such a 
step, he was on the point of obeying, when, 
in a note which the Duke of Burgundy had 
subjoined to the king's letter, he read : <c I 
know from a certain quarter, that they want 
to make you a prisoner of war." I know not 
where he picked up this information ; but that 
prince, respectable as he was in peace, could 
neither say nor do any but foolish things in 
war. This note however produced some im-= 
pression for a moment. Generals, soldiers 
and all, swore rather to perish in the breach 
Boufflers w ? ept for joy, as I have been told ; 
and when on the point of embracing this al* 
ternative, he recollected my note, which got 
the better of the Duke of Burgundy's; and 



PRINCE EUGENE. 129 

after the trenches had heen opened four months 
before the city and citadel, he sent me on the 
Sth of December all the articles that he 
Wished me to sign, which I did without any 
restriction. I went very soon with the Prince 
of Orange to pay him a visit, and in truth to 
do homage to his merit. I cordially embraced 
him, and accepted an invitation to supper ; 
" On condition," said I, " that it be that of a 
famished citadel, to see what you may eat 
without an express order from the king/' 
Roasted horse-flesh was set before us; the 
epicures in my suite were far from relishing 
the joke, but were quickly consoled by the 
arrival of provisions from the city, on which 
we made an excellent repast. 

The following day I gave him as good a 
dinner as I could, at my abbey, where he 
paid me a visit. We were very merry and 
communicative. We talked of war, politics, 
and Louis XIV. Respecting the last, I was 
on my guard ; I spoke only of his great qua- 
lities, and requested the marshal to lay mc 
at his feet. On this subject I was highly 
amused with the flatteries of the states-gene- 



130 MEMOIRS OF 

ral, who thinking' themselves very cunning, 
were in hopes by these means to dispose him 
to peace, of which they were ardently de- 
sirous. I durst not be alone a moment with 
the marshal, lest idle stories should be circu- 
lated respecting us ; and one or the other 
might appear suspicious to our courts, where 
one is always sure to have good friends, 
who are never asleep. After manifesting my 
consideration for the illustrious vanquished, 
whenever we were together at the play, and 
when we went abroad in the streets, where I 
observed that he was universally adored, I 
caused him and his brave garrison to be con- 
ducted to Douay, with a large escort and all 
possible honors. 

In one of our conversations I said to him; 
" If you could have been both within the 
place and without at the same time, M. le 
Marechal, and if no other princes of France 
had been there but M. de Vendome, to whom 
I give that title out of love to Henry IV. I 
should never have taken Lisle." 

e< Do you believe in good luck in war V* 



PRINCE EUGENE. 181 

said he ; I see toothing in you but good ma- 
nagement." — <c If I have occasionally shewn 
some," replied I, "it is because I have been 
fortunate enough to be opposed by bad gene- 
rals ; and that is good luck/' — Ci In my opini- 
on," said the marshal, "bad luck consists 
only in the want of opportunity to distinguish 
one's self: but a beaten general is always in 
the wrong, without some extraordinary acci- 
dent, such as an order misunderstood, or the 
death of the messenger ; he may then have 
some excuse, but there is none for the general 
who is surprised and defeated. The ignorant 
alone make war a game of chance, and they 
are caught at last. Charles XII. is not one 
of these; but 1 see by the news which I have 
this morning received, that while we are 
speaking, he is playing very deep." 

After retaking Ghent and Bruges, Marl- 
borough and I put our troops in winter-quar- 
ters, and went for a month to Brussels ; but 
my mother was no longer there. 



i 2 



132 MEMOIRS OF 



1700. 

January the 9th, we set out for the Hague. 
It was nothing but a series of honors and 
festivities ; presents for Marlborough, and 
fire-works for me. But I prevented a mag- 
nificent exhibition, by requesting the states- 
general to give the money it was to have cost 
to their brave soldiers, whom I had caused to 
be crippled ; and the 20th of January I set 
off for Vienna, to report and ask for farther 
orders. 

I was directed to make peace, if the enemy 
would comply with all my demands. I re- 
turned on the 8th of April to the Hague, 
where I found the plenipotentiaries of the 
king of France. Famine, a winter more se- 
vere than had ever been known, want of men 
and money, made him wish for peace ; but 
the vanquished forget that they are such, as 
soon as they enter into negociation. They 
mistake obstinacy for firmness, and at last get 
more soundly beaten than before. 



PRINCE EUGENE. 133 

One hundred thousand men were again un- 
der Marlborough's command and mine in the 
Low Countries ; and the same number under 
Villars. " I am going/' said he to the king 
on taking leave, " (o drive your enemies so far, 
that they shall not again see the banks of the 
Scheldt; and by a battle on my arrival, to re- 
gain all that has been taken from your majesty. " 

MS itliout wishing to avoid one, for he was 
morally and physically brave, he took an ex- 
tremely advantageous position : this was one of 
his great talents ; he wanted very little to be 
a perfect general. With reinforcements, 
which poured in to us on all sides, we were 
stronger than he, but there was no possibility 
of attacking him where he was. To oblige 
him to quit his position, we resolved to besiege 
Tournay. The trenches were opened on the 
7th of July, the white (lag was hoisted on 
the 2Sth, and on the 21st of August, after 
the most terrible subterraneous war that lever 
witnessed (for in twenty-six days, the be- 
sieged sprung thirty-eight mines), the citadel 
surrendered. Villars never stirred. {i Let 
us go and take Mons," said I to Marlborough ; 



143 MEMOIRS OF 

(C perhaps this devil of a fellow will tire of 
being so prudent.' 5 Madame de Maintenon 
did not give him credit for so much prudence 
as he possessed,, though she was very fond of 
him ; for she permitted Louis XIV. to send 
Marshal Boufflers to assist him. Certain ene- 
mies of Villars, at Versailles, hoped to disgust 
him ; but I have already proved, that brave 
men agree, and love and esteem each other. 
The two marshals would gladly have saved 
Mons without risking a battle ; we stood upon 
ceremony to know which party should oblige 
the other to give it As soon as our troops from 
Tournay had arrived : " Let us lose no time/' 
said I ; " and in spite of one hundred and twenty 
thousand men, woods, hedges, villages, holes, 
triple entrenchments, a hundred pieces of can- 
non and ahattiSy let us put an end to the war in 
one day.'* 

The deputies of Holland, and some faint- 
hearted generals, objected, remonstrated, and 
annoyed me. It was of no use to tell them 
that the excellent veteran French soldiers were 
killed in the six or seven battles which Marl- 
borough and I had gained ; and though I welj 



PRINCE EUGENE. 135 

knew that vouns; ones are formed but too ex- 
peditiously, a.i advantage in which they are 
superior to all other nations, we determined 
upou (lie battle of Malplaqnet. The 11th of 
September a thiek fog concealed our disposi- 
tions from the marshals; we dispelled it at 
eight in the morning, by a general discharge 
of aP o; ( r artillery. This military music was 
succeeded bv that of hautboys, drums, fifes, 
and trumpets, with which I treated both ar- 
mies. We then saw Villars proceeding through 
all the ranks. As the French can never hear 
enough of their king; " My friends, said 
he to them, as I have been told, " the king 
commands me to fight : are you not \ery glad 
of it?" He was answered with shouts of — 
Long live t Lie king and M. de Villars ! I at- 
tacked the wood of Sars without shooting. I 
rallied the English guards, who, at the be- 
ginning, were scattered ; some from too much 
courage, and others from a contrary reason : 
my German battalions supported them. We 
had nevertheless been overwhelmed, but for 
the Duke of Argyle, who boldly climbing the 
parapet of the entrenchment, made me master 
of the wood. All this procured me a ball 



136 MEMOIRS OF 

behind the ear; and on account of the quan- 
tity of blood which I lost, all those about me 
advised me to have the wound dressed. tc If 
I am beaten/' I replied, " it will not be worth 
while ; and if the French are, I shall have 
plenty of time for that." What could I have 
done better than to seek death, after all the 
responsibility which I had again taken upon 
myself on this occasion ? I beg pardon for this 
digression and personality; but one cannot 
help being a man. To endeavour to repair 
faults committed, is, I acknowledge, more 
noble; but to survive one's glory is dreadful. 
My business on the right going on well, I 
wished to decide that of the duke on the left, 
which proceeded but slowly. In vain the 
Prince of Orange had planted a standard on 
the third entrenchment ; almost the whole 
Dutch corps was extended on the ground, 
killed or wounded. For six hours Marlbo- 
rough was engaged with the centre and the 
left, without any decisive advantage. My 
cavalry, which I sent to his succour, was 
overthrown on the way by the king's house- 
hold troops, as they were in their turn by a 
battery which took them in flank. At length 



PRINCE EUGENE. 137 

[Marlborough had gained ground without 
me ; so that it was easy for me to turn the 
centre of the enemy's army, which had been 
left unsupported in consequence of the defeat 
of the wings. Boufficrs rendered the same 
service to Villars as I did to Marlborough, 
and when lie beheld him fall from his horse, 
dangerously wounded below the knee, and 
the victory snatched from them, he thought 
of nothing but how to make the finest retreat 
in the best possible order. I think it is not 
too much to estimate the loss of both armies 
at forty thousand men : those who were not 
killed died of fatigue. I gave some rest to 
the remains of my troops, buried all I could, 
and then marched to Mons. 

There were but five thousand men in that 
place. I opened the trenches on the 25th of 
September, and on the 22d of October, being 
on the point of assaulting the horn work of 
Bertamont, Grimaldi capitulated. Our troops 
went into winter- quarters ; and I, being obliged 
to po-t about without intermission, proceeded 
with Marlborough to the Hague, to coax the 
states-general, who were ready to abandon our 



138 MEMOIRS OF 

cause. I advised them to say at the conferences 
of Gertruidenberg, that they would not hear 
of peace unless it were general; a Tis a good 
way to protract a war ; for out of four or five 
powers, you may wager that there is one 
whose interest it is not to make peace. I was 
sure of Queen Anne, because 1 was sure of 
Marlborough ; he seconded me admirably, I 
went to report to the emperor. I submitted 
to him a sketch of the state of Europe, of 
which I could see that his cabinet had not the 
least idea. I stated the inclination which I 
observed in several powers to forsake us. At 
a distance from danger, people are courageous. 
I was told that 1 should make a glorious cam- 
paign. I replied that I had lost more men 
than could be given me ; but yet I would try 
what I could do. 

I collected three hundred thousand florins 
for my army, which had for a long time been 
unpaid, and as many recruits as I could to 
reinforce Heister against the Hungarian re- 
bels, whom they had neither the abilities to 
beat, nor the good sense to pacify. I soon 
returned to the Low Countries, by way of 
Berlin, where I alighted the 1st of April, 



1 



PRINCE EUGENE. 139 

1710, 

at the bouse of my good friend, the Prince of 
Anhalt Dessau. It was necessary to prevent 
the King of Prussia, who imagined that the 
Swedish monarch would cut out work for 
him, from withdrawing his troops from Italy, 
where the Duke of Savoy, meditating an in- 
vasion of Dauphine, stood in need of them. 

Frederic William promised me that they 
should remain. I demonstrated to him that 
since the battle of Pultawa there was no 
Charles XII. and that he was the prisoner of 
his friends the Turks. 

I was sorry for it; for he never could have 
been a Gustavus Adolphus, who, made the 
empire tremble ; but I wished the aggrandize- 
ment of Russia to be prevented, and looked 
upon Sweden as a counterpoise for maintaining 
the equilibrium of Europe. The King of 
Prussia gave me a fine sword, and a snuff- box 
worth twenty-four thousand florins, which 
was a great deal for a prince both poor and 
avaricious. I proceeded on the J 5th of April 



140 MEMOIRS OF 

to join Marlborough at the Hague ; and on 
arriving in Flanders,, we found the French 
lines, from Maubeuge to Ypres, carried by 
Cumberland. We went to lay siege to Douai. 

My equipages, coming from Holland by 
water, were taken by a French partisan near 
Antwerp : plate, boxes, and the presents 
which I had just received. Louis XIV. pro- 
bably from the impression made upon him by 
the respectful message which I had sent by 
the Marshal de Boufflers, ordered the whole 
to be restored to me. I gave five hundred 
ducats and a gold-hilted sword to the par- 
tizan. I caused the trenches to be opened in 
the night between the 5th and 6th of May. 
Albergotti made a vigorous sally on the 8th, 
which gave me a good deal of trouble. No 
governor ever made so many sorties : he some- 
times made four in a day. 

Villars, having recovered from his wound, 
arrived from Paris to oblige us to raise the 
siege. We took a good position, and though 
it was not so strong as that which he had oc- 
cupied at MaJplaquet, the preceding year, 
yet he respected it. The many battles and 



PRIXCE EUGENE. 141 

towns lost by the French since the commence- 
ment of the century, had rendered them cau- 
tious, and Villars too ; that is saying a great 
deal. On the 24th of June, Douai surren- 
dered. 

It came to my turn to be cautious likewise, 
I designed to take Arras, and then there would 
have been nothing to prevent my marching 
to Paris; but Villars frustrated my plan, by 
taking an excellent position, where I durst 
not attack him. 1 consoled myself by the 
reduction of Bethnne, which was the busi- 
ness of eight days. On the 14th of August 
we gained a tolerable advantage. Villars, 
ahvajs courageous in his own person, when 
he could not be so with his army, gave Brog- 
lio five hundred horse to cut off a large fo- 
raging party, and marched himself at the 
head of fifty squadrons to support him. Brog- 
lio, eager for the attack, fell into an ambus- 
cade, and Villars returned extremely mor- 
tified. 

-Marlborough had a strong desire to attack 
him. I said to him : " I will wager that it 



142 MEMOIRS OF 

is not to be done : but let us reconnoitre bim.^ 
— iC Well then/' said he, finding this to be 
the case, tf let us go on taking towns.** On 
the 16th we opened the trenches before St. 
Venant, and on the 28th it capitulated* 

The siege of Aix did not proceed so ra- 
pidly ; it was not till the beginning of No- 
vember, that, after great efforts of valor on 
both sides, the besiegers carried the covered 
way. The brave Quebrinta nevertheless de- 
fended himself till the 8th. We went into 
winter-quarters. The Hague being the head 
of the coalition, which I saw every moment 
ready to tumble to pieces, I went thither 
again with Marlborough, and returned to 
Vienna on the 20th of January, 



1711. 

I there found the emperor and his ministers 
still undecided between their private haughti- 
ness and the public interest. Cf A halter or a 
ribbon, in one word,'" said I, c< for Ragotzi 
and-Caroli. Put an end to this tedious re- 



PRINCE EUGENE. MS 

hellion ; you may do it cheaply, for the Turks 
are going to march in behalf of Charles XII ; 
and unless Peter I. commits some e<rrc<rious 
folly, he will find them employment for a long 

time. 

They sent to me — I may say to me, because 
they have a notion that the president of war 
is the grand vizir — a minister named Zephala 
Aga, to assure the emperor that they had no 
quarrel with him ; but that it was the Rus- 
sians on whom his highness, as he said, was 
going to take vengeance, for reasons known 
to the whole world. These were his own 
words. 

Joseph I. was attacked with the small-pox. 
There were no good physicians at Vienna. 
They sent to Lintz for one. It came out in 
such abundance, that I thought him out of 
danger. Before my departure for the Low 
Countries, I would have taken leave of him; 
he sent me word that I had but too much ex- 
posed my life for him already, and that he 
wanted it elsewhere than for the small-pox, 
I insisted no farther, and set off on the 16th 



144 MEMOIRS OF 

of April. Three days afterwards I was in- 
formed of his death, occasioned by the igno- 
rance of the faculty of Upper and Lower 
Austria, who disputed all night about the 
means of relieving an inflammation of the 
bowels, with which the emperor was afflict- 
ed. I sincerely regretted this prince, aged 
thirty-three: the first since Charles V. who 
possessed genius^ and was not superstitious ; 
and I determined to serve him even after his 
death. I hurried to almost all the electors to 
dispose them to ensure the imperial crown to 
his brother, and then went to solicit the 
Dutch to continue their credit in money and 
friendship to Charles III. king of Spain, 
who became by the title of Emperor 
Charles VI. 

The protestants did not fail to give out 
that the Court of Rome, which had suffered 
some humiliations from Joseph I. had bribed 
his physicians; but no credit should be at- 
tached to defamatory libels, to private anec- 
dotes, as they are called, and to malicious 
doubts. It has long been the fashion to assert 
that great personages die of poison. 



PRTNCE EUGENE. H5 

Tallard, more dangerous in peace than in 
war, whom I would not have left prisoner in 
England could I have suspected that he would 
there acquire any influence, enabled the 
Tories to triumph, and crush the Whigs. 
His assiduous attention to Mrs. Marsham, 
the queen s new favourite instead of the 
Duchess of Marlborough, his insinuating 
manners, and his presents of Burgundy and 
Champagne to Right Honorable members of 
parliament, who were amateurs of those 
wines, changed the aspect of European affairs, 
and then a M. Menager, who was sent to that 
country by Louis XIV. The consequences 
will be seen presently. 

?»Iailborough was playing his last game in 
the Low Countries. He found means to finish 
his military career there with glory ; he 
forced the French lines behind the Senzee, 
and tcok the city of Bouchain. 

On the disgrace of the duchess, a thousand 
faults were discovered in him. His pride 
v\as denominated insolence, and his rather too 
great economy was called peculation and ex- 
it 



146 MEMOIRS OF 

tortion. His friends, as may be supposed, 
behaved like friends ; and that is saying suf- 
ficient. He was recalled : to me this was a 
thunderbolt. The French assembled on the 
Rhine : I sent Vehlen with a strong detach- 
ment froin the Low Countries, and leaving 
the Hague on the 19th of July, I collected as 
expeditiously as possible all the troops I 
could at Frankfurt, and took so good a posi- 
tion in a camp near Miihlberg, as to cause 
to be held and to cover the election to the 
imperial crown, which would have been lost 
had I received a check. The French durst 
not disturb it ; this was for me a campaign 
of prudence rather than of glory. 

Queen Anne threw off all restraint. She 
had given an unfavourable reception to the 
Dutch ambassador, and had forbidden Gallas, 
the imperial minister, her court; assigning as 
a reason certain expressions which he was 
said to have used respecting her. Charles VI. 
ordered me to repair the blunders of Gallas, 
if he had committed any, and to regain the 
court of St. James's. 



PRINCE EUGENE. UT 

Had I acted, as my good cousin Victor 
Ameda3us would have done in my place, I 
should have cried out against Marlborough 
itill more loudly than his enemies, and have 
refused to see him. But from policy itself, 
persons of narrow minds ought to counterfeit 
feeling. Their designs are too easily seen 
through. They are despised and miss their 
object. Gratitude, esteem, the partnership in 
so many military operations, and pity for a 
person in disgrace, caused me to throw myself 
with emotion into Marlborough's arms. 
Besides, on such occasions, the heart proves 
victorious. The people, who followed me 
everv where from the moment I set foot in 
London, perceived it, and liked me the better 
for this: while the Opposition, and the 
honest part of the court, esteemed me the 
more. In one way or other, all was over for 
Austria. I coaxed the people in power a good 
deal. I made presents; there is scarcely anv 
thing but what may be bought in England. I 
offered to procure the recal of Gallas. I deli- 
vered a memorial on this subject, and request- 
ed the queen to take other bases at the con- 
gress of Utrecht, where her plenipotentiaries 
k2 



148 MEMOIRS OF 

already were, that the emperor might be en- 
abled to send his thither. I received so vague 
a reply, that had the court of Vienna believed 
me, they would not have reckoned at all upon 
the feeble succour of the Duke of Ormond, 
who set out to command the English,, as 
successor to the Duke of Marlborough, and I 
should not have lost the battle of Denain. 
This happened in the following manner : Not- 
withstanding my distinguished reception from 
the queen, who, at my departure, presented 
me with her portrait, I went and told the 
states-general that, we had now nobody on 
whom we could rely but themselves; and 
passing through Utrecht to make my observa- 
tions, I found the tone of the French so 
altered, so elevated, that I was more certain 
than ever of the truth of what I had announc- 
ed. On my arrival at the Abbey of Anchin, 
where I assembled my army, amounting to 
upwards of one hundred thousand men, 
Ormond came and made me the fairest pro- 
mises, and had the goodness to consent to my 
passing the Scheldt below Bouchain. But 
after feigning to agree to the siege of 
Quesnoi, he first strove to dissuade me from 



PRINCE EUGBNg. 149 

that step, and then, without reserve, refused 
to concur in it. I said to him : " Well, sir, I 
will do without your eighteen thousand men." 
"I shall lead them/' said he, "to take posses- 
sion of Dunkirk, which the French are to 
deliver to me." " I congratulate the two 
nations/' replied I, "on this operation, which 
will do equal honor to hoth. Adieu, sir." 
He ordered all the troops in the pay of 
England to follow him. Very few obeyed. 
I had foreseen the blow, and had made sure 
of the Prince of Anhalt, and the Prince of 
Hesse Cassel. 

July the 30th, I took Quesnoi. I gave the 
direction of the siege of Landrecy to the 
Prince of Anhalt, and entered the lines which 
I had directed to be formed between Mar- 
chiennes and Denain. The Dutch had col- 
lected large stores of ammunition and provi- 
sions at Marchiennes. In vain I represented 
to them that they would be better at Quesnoi, 
only three leagues from Landrecy, and but 
ten from us ; the economy of these gentlemen 
opposed the change. This made me say 



150 MEMOIRS OF 

peevishly, and as I have been told, with an 
oath, one day when Alexander's conquests 
were the subject of conversation : " He had no 
Dutch deputies with his army/ 5 I ordered 
twenty of their battalions, and ten squadrons 
under the command of the Earl of Alber- 
marle, to enter the lines, and approached 
Quesnoi, with the main body of my army, to 
watch the motions of Villars. During all 
these shuffling tricks, of which I foresaw that 
I should be the dupe, and which Louis XIV. 
knew nothing of, I made him tremble upon his 
throne. At a very small distance from Ver- 
sailles, one of my partisans carried off Beren^- 
ghen, under the idea that it was the dauphin ; 
others pillaged Champagne and Lorraine. 
Growenstein, with two thousand horse, levied 
contributions all over the country, spreading 
dismay, and declaring that I was at his heels 
with my army. It was then that he is reported 
to have said : <{ If Landrecy is taken, I will 
put myself at the head of my nobility, and 
perish rather than see my kingdom lost/* 
Would he have done so ? I cannot tell. He 
wanted once to leave the trenches, but was dis~ 



PRINCE EUGENE. 151 

suaded. Henry IV. when formerly the con- 
trary advice was given liim, made the sign of 
the cross, and remained where he was. 

Villars thinking himself not strong enough 
to attack me, as I had boped he would, at- 
tempted the deliverance of Denain in another 
way. I have mentioned my vexation respect- 
ing the magazines at Marchiennes, upon which 
depended the continuation of the siege. Two 
leagues of ground were too much for the 
Dutch corps. But for the defection of the 
English, they might have been defended. 
The following circumstance demonstrated the 
talents of Villars, and a kind of fault with 
which I had to reproach myself: to conceal a 
move rent made on his left towards the 
Scheldt, with the greatest possible secrecy and 
celerity, lie with his right drew my attention 
to Landrecy, as if he designed to attack the 
lines of countervallation. All at once he 
drew back his right towards his left, which 
during the night had easily thrown bridges 
across the Scheldt, which is not wide at this 
place. These two wings united, advanced 
unknown to the Earl of Albemarle, who at- 



152 



MEMOIRS OF 



tempted with his cavalry, but in vain, to %Iit 
what had passed. He relied upon me, hut I 
reckoned upon him. On the first firing of 
his artillery, i marched to his succour, with 
a strong detachment of dragoons, at full trot, 
intending to make them dismount, if necessary, 
and followed by my infantry, which came up at 
a quick pace. The cowardice of the Dutch 
rendered my efforts unavailing. Had they 
hut maintained themselves half an hour in the 
post of Denain, I had been in time. So I had 
calculated, in case of the worst, though I was 
deceived by the manoeuvre of Villars. 

I found only eight hundred men, and three 
or four generals drowned in the Scheldt ; and 
ail those who had been surprised in their 
entrenchments, killed without making any 
defence. Albemarle, and all the princes and 
generals in the Dutch service, were taken 
prisoners, while endeavoring to rally their 
troops. The conduct of the former was re- 
presented in very black colors to the stetes- 
general. I wrote to Heinsius, the pensionary : 
" It would be my province, sir, to throw the 
faults or the disasters of that day on the Earl 



PRINCE EUGENE. 153 

of Albemarle, if I bad a single reproacb to 
make him. He bebaved like a man of 
honor, but I defy the ablest general to ex- 
tricate himself when his troops, after a vile 
discharge, ignominiously run away. Your 
Obstinacy ia leaving your magazines at Mar- 
chiennes, is the cause of all this. Assure 
their hieh mightinesses of Ihe truth of what 
I write you a of my dissatisfaction, and pro- 
found mortification." 

I w as obliged to raise the siege of Landrecy, 
and to approach Mons, for the purpose of 
subsisting my army; so that I could not pre- 
vent Villars from retaking Douay, Quesnoi, 
and Bouchain, 

I often examine myself with the utmost 
possible strictness. It appears to me, that if 
I had placed twenty battalions more in the 
lines, which would hfve been necessary to 
defend them, Villars, who was stronger than 
I, would tben have beaten me. Out of the 
lines, posted as I was, I provided for every 
contingency. Could I expect that an hour at 
the utmost, more or less, would be decisive of 



154- MEMOIRS OF 

my glory, of the war, and of the salvation ©f 
France ? The artillery of the lines, which 
werethicklyplantedwithit/oughtalonetohave 
given me time to come up. Instead of being 
well served, it was abandoned in as cowardly a 
manner as the entrenchments. The two faults 
which I committed were, not disregarding 
the remonstrances of the deputies respecting 
Marchiennes, and confiding a post of such 
importance to their troops, the flower of 
which had perished at Malplaquet. 

Unfortunate in Hainault, I prepared all 
things for beiug successful in Flanders, »at 
the beginning of the next campaign, and con- 
cluded this by sending a detachment to sur- 
prise Fort Kenoque. What a paltry com- 
pensation ! but one must work sometimes 
for the newspapers. 

It may easily he supposed, that I was the 
subject of criticism at Vienna, London, and 
the Hague, and of songs at Paris. Here is 
one which I thought pretty, because it gives 
my history in very few words : 



PRINCE EUGENE. 155 

Eugene, op'ning the campaign, 

Swore with air most furious, 
He'd march straightway to Champagne, 

To swig our wines so curious. 
The Dutchman for this journey gay, 
His cheese <o Marchiennes sent away; 
But Villars, fir'd uith glory, cried : 
u Faith, where you are you'd better 'bide: 
Scheldt's muddy water is, I think, 
Quite good enough for you to drink. " 

I went to Utrecht to see how the negotia- 
tions proceeded. England, Savoy, Portugal, 
and Prussia, were ready to sign their treaties; 
and Holland hung only by a thread. 

I set out for Vienna to report this to the 
emperor. On my arrival, Charles VI. said to 
me: "You are right; Holland has just 
signed too. So Zinzendorf informs me ; and 
he has sent me the proposals of France, to 
which you will certainly not advise me to 
agree." cc Your majesty does me justice/' I 
replied. " We will obtain neutrality for the 
Low Countries ; and with the troops which 
you will order thence, as well as from Naples 
and Lombardy, ^ve shall be able to keep the 
French in check on the Rhine. 



156 MEMOIRS OF 

I hastened to all the states and courts of 
the empire to collect men and money. I pro* 
Cured three millions of crowns in one quarter, 
and a million of florins in another. But the 
tardiness of the princes arid circles in march- 
ing from their quarters prevented me from 
anticipating the French on the Upper Rhine. 
Charles VI. manifested a desire to command 
his army in person. I represented to him 
that he could gain no honor hj it. My opi- 
nion was but ioo well-founded. As I clearly 
perceived that Villars meant to make an at- 
tempt on Lai dan, I ordered lines to be form- 
ed at Etlingen, within which I sent one-half 
of my army, and posted the other at Miihl- 
berg 3 where I hoped my reinforcements 
would arrive before the fall of Landau ; but 
the Prince of Wurtemberg was obliged to 
capitulate. 

Still I was in hopes of preventing the 
French from besieging Friburg. I took pos- 
session of all the defiles of the mountains. I 
threw up entrenchments, formed cibattis, 
and erected redoubts at all the principal 
points. The inferiority of my force made sac 



PRINCE EUGENE. 157 

fear that the peace, which must necessarily 
be soon concluded, would be detestable : X 
called in all my troops, leaving only eigh- 
teen thousand with Auhonne to defend 
the passage of the mountains. Villars at- 
tacked the heights with his grenadiers. The 
troops of the circles, which I had placed 
behind the abattis, behaved like the Dutch at 
Denain, and ran away at the first (ire. The 
Duke of Bourbon and the Prince of Conti 
began the attack of the defiles at seven in 
the evening. Aubonne, hurried away by the 
fugitives, could not rally them till they were 
at such a distance that he could not regain his 
entrenchments, and contented himself with 
throwing twelve battalions into Friburc 
After so many battles during a period of thir- 
teen years, the emperor's troops themselves 
were but raw recruits. The best of nay 
entrenchments at Hohlgraben being forced, 
there was nothing to check Villars in his 
march across the Black Forest, and he opened 
the trenches before Ffiburg on the 1st of 
October. Harsch disputed every inch of 
ground. In the night between the 14th and 
loth, the covered way was taken bv assault; 



158 MEMOIRS OF 

and he there lost seventeen hundred men. When 
the inhabitants saw that Harsch was determined 
not to surrender till the assault of the body of 
the place, which was battered down with balls, 
the oldest priest carrying the host, the magis- 
trates, women, and children, all thronged to 
him. The fire from the ramparts continued 
as before; and when the breach was wide 
enough to enter in companies, on the 1st of 
November, he abandoned the town and retired 
into the citadel. This was followed by de- 
fending, fighting, writing, demanding, refus- 
ing, granting, prolonging suspensions of hos- 
tilities till the 21st. and then by capitulation. 

Farewel to the empire ! farewel to its two 
bulwarks! was the general cry at all the 
courts of Germany, which were dying of fear. 
Why are they incorrigible ? If little ministers 
and great or little mistresses were not gained 
by France, they might raise one hundred 
thousand men to defend in the first place the 
passage of the Rhine; and then the fortresses 
erected and to be erected. There are very 
bad Germans in Germany. 



PRINCE EUGENE. 159 

The same courts and states of the empire 
having crossed me, as some years before they 
had done Prince Louis of Baden, had render- 
ed it impossible for me to relieve those two 
places. This, I confess, horribly disgusted 
me of the war, so that I was one of the first 
to advise the emperor to make peace. France 
had been making prodigious efforts : her re- 
sources are infinite. 'Tis the will of one in- 
dividual and of one nation. The Austrian 
monarchy is composed of five or six, which 
have different constitutions. What a dif- 
ference in civilization, population, and im- 
portance ! The title of emperor does not 
bring a single man or a single kreutzer. He 
must even negociate with his empire that it 
may not be French ; with the Bohemians, 
that they may not run away into Prussia and 
Saxony for fear of becoming soldiers; with 
his Lombards, who are ready to turn Savoy- 
ards ; with his Hungarians, ready to turn 
Turks; and with his Flemings, ready to be- 
come Dutchmen. 

La Houssaie was directed to sound on the 
part of Louis XIV. and Undheim, the minis- 



ICO MEMOIRS OF 

ter of the Elector Palatine, on that of Charles 
VI. The first appointed Villars to treat with 
me at Rastadt, to which place I was sent at 
the same time. Villars arrived there first, to 
do the honors of the place., he told me,, and 
came to the foot of the stairs to receive me. 
Never did men embrace with more military 
sincerity, and I may venture to add, with 
more esteem and attachment. Our juvenile 
friendship, when companions in arms in Hun- 
gary, and our intimacy at Vienna, while he 
was ambassador there, interrupted by mili- 
tary exploits on both sides, rendered this in- 
terview so affecting, that the officers and men 
composing our escorts also cordially embraced 
one another. A conversation of an hour, in 
my apartment, to which Villars conducted 
me, fixed the basis of the treaty. <e I was in 
expectation," said I laughing to Villars, i{ of 
exorbitant demands on your part, but I sup- 
pose they have not yet arrived, since in your 
Jieart you think mine reasonable. You will 
send a courier to notify my objections ; he will 
return to you with orders to agree to none of 
my propositions. Your second will bring you 



PRINCE EUGENE. 161 

intelligence that they are beginning to listen 
to reason at Vienna, and we shall sign." All 
that I predicted partly came to pass ; and 
While he was waiting for the second courier, 
I said to him: " Allow me, my dear marshal, 
to go in the mean time to spend the carnival 
at Stuttgard, with the Duke of Wiirtemberg. 
My body requires recreation ; but for these 
two years, owing to you, my mind has been in 
still greater need of it." — " With all my 
heart, said he, ec and I will go and amuse 
myself at Strasburg, till Contades, whom I 
will send off to the king, shall return with 
fresh instructions. Allow me also to give you 
a bail this evening, as though we were not go- 
ing to fight perhaps for a fortnight to come. 
People will consider our sovereigns the best 
friends in the world, while it is only their 
ambassadors that are so, if you, Monseigneur, 
will permit me to assume an appellation so 
dear to my heart." In the time that we re- 
mained together, I gave him balls and suppers 
in my turn. His entertainment was better than 
mine, which was rather too much in the Ger- 
man style ; I was quite out of my element. 
W boever saw us together at night would not 



162 MEMOIRS OF 

have supposed that we were quarrelling all 
day. At the entertainments which he gave 
me., his conversation seemed more amusing 
and more agreeable than ever. Nobody could 
be more so than he. He had far more interest- 
ing things to tell me, than when we were ac- 
quainted. We were talking one day of the 
difference of our nations: e( Your's;" said 
Villars to me, (C seems immovable, never 
doing glorious things but by halves, and never 
disgracing itself/' — ei And your's," replied I, 
tc is never steady. It is in fact two ; one sus- 
ceptible of discipline, fatigue, and enthusiasm, 
when it is headed by a Villars, a Vendome, 
and a Catinat ; and the other, that of Blen- 
heim and Ramillies, when there was too 
much of Versailles in your affairs. The un- 
derstanding and intelligence of your country- 
men may sometimes be prejudicial, because 
they form an opinion on every subject, and 
that very quickly. For instance, if I had to 
do with some of you, I would equip some of 
my dragoons in the French uniform, and di- 
rect them to cry out on your rear : We are 
cut off! But with such valor, and such a 
man as you, my dear marshal, they are very 
dangerous fellows." 



PRINCE EUGENE. 163 

ff Indeed/* said bo, " we talk without 
being- aware of it, like Hannibal and Scipio. — 
What think you of the Turks ? Are they \et 
as stupid as in my time, when I began to ad- 
mire you, Monseigneur ?" 

" Nobody will ever change their system," 
answered I, " but it might be turned to 
good account without that. If a pacha, a 
renegado, a general of the allies of the Porte, 
were to place platoons after their manner, as 
a second line in the intervals of the first, and 
others as a third in those of the second, and 
then again reserves, and their spahis on the 
wings; with their accursed shouts of Allah! 
Allah ! and their mode of advancing in fifties 
with a pair of colors, they would be in- 
vincible/' 

cc You will be angry with me for what I am 
going to say," observed Villars. <( Do you 
know the foolish story which has been told 
concerning you, to account for the loss of the 
battle of Denain?" 



l8 



164 MEMOIRS OF 

"Let me hear it>" said I, " it will amuse 



''". Well, it was said that you bad a mistress 
at Marcbiennes ; that an Italian dancer, beau- 
tiful as an angel, bad her quarters there ; and 
that you had troops at that post, onlj for 
her safety and your's, during your nightly 
visits/' 

I laughed heartily with him at this story. 

ec Indeed/' said I, '* it was rather too late 
for me to catch the foolish fever called love. 

I had better have taken it at Venice or 
Vienna, when we were young. You paid 
attention to ladies, I remember; but it was 
without loving or being loved by them ; for 
-they take a French gallant for fashion's 
sake." 

<c That often happens to us in France too," 
replied he. i( It is a fashion there likewise, 
nay even an employment when we have no- 
thing else to do : indeed, it is almost neces- 
sary to save our character. Consider what 



PRINCE EUGENE. 165 

they have said of M. de Vend o me and of 
Catiiiat." 

He passed some jokes on bis friend Madame 
de Main tenon, and the steeple from which Cha- 
miliard had reconnoitred me, and highly 
amused me at the expence of the Duke of 
Burgundy, the Villerois, the Tallards, the 
Marsins, and the La Feuillades. " I was de- 
lighted," said I, " to find that you were con- 
verting and cutting the throats of the Hu- 
gonots in the Cevennes, instead of being 
opposed to me at Hochstett." I had no diffi- 
culty to make him acknowledge that, but for 
his wound, he would have beaten me at Mal- 
plaquet; but it was much harder for him to 
prove, as he attempted to do, that I had not 
committed some slight error at Denain. 

Perhaps these little flatteries produced some 
i bs rvations favorable to the emperor in his 
dispatches to Louis XIV. I hinted in con- 
versation, that I was not yet acquainted with 
emperor, and that he seemed to me to be 
\me\y obstinate. With pleasure I ob- 
served Villars ta'king with some members of 



166 MEMOIRS OF 

the states of the empire, supposing* that be 
would learn that I had obtained from them 
five millions to begin the war again, if it 
should be absolutely necessary; and we 
parted. 



1714. 

Contades went like the wind, and returned in 
the same manner on the 26th of February. The 
framing of new instructions, the assembling 
of the council, the alterations in the condi- 
tions, the discussions on this subject, and per- 
haps also the dispatching of some secret cou^ 
riers, who arrived without my knowledge- 
all this was the business of six weeks. 

Villars sent Contades to me, to request that 
I would give credit to whatever he should 
communicate to me in the king's name, and 
we both returned very expeditiously to Ra- 
stadt. Seeing that very few articles in my 
propositions were altered^ I signed on the 6th 
of March, 



PRINCE EUGENE. 16? 

I could not forbear laughing at the titles 
assumed by the emperor; such as, King of 
Corsica, Algiers, Jaen and the Canaries ; 
Duke of Athens and Neopatri ; Lord of Tri- 
poli, &c. ; and beside them, the most Serene 
Prince and Lord Louis XIV. ; then my titles 
in abundance, and next to them, the general 
of the French army, named de Villars; and 
I admired the impertinence of our chanceries. 
c< I shall go to Vienna," said I to him, " to 
procure the ratification of our treaty, because 
I am afraid that some alterations might be 
made in it; and I will soon see you again. " 

I was most favorably received by the court 
and by the city, both being heartily tired of 
the war. I procured the appointment of ple- 
nipotentiaries to execute the necessary forma- 
lities with those of his Most Christian Ma- 
jesty. It was at Baden that they met for this 
purpose; and thither Villars and I repaired 
to affix our signatures once more to the same 
contract. 

We were both apprehensive for a moment, 
lest the death of Queen Anne, which hap- 



168 MEMOIRS OF 

pened just at this juncture,, should produce 
some alteration ; but our subaltern ministers 
had the good sense not to make any remon- 
strances to us on that subject. 

All that now grieved me was to be obliged 
to part from Villars, whom I was never to 
see again. c ' We shall probably fight no 
more battles, and sign no more treaties to- 
gether/' said I, to hirn, (C but we shall never 
cease to love and to esteem each other." 
That brave man was also affected at taking 
leave of me, and I departed for Vienna. 



1715, 

The short years of peace which I there 
passed were to me more fatiguing than those 
of war. Abundance of conferences with the 
English and Dutch ministers respecting the 
barrier-treaty of the Low Countries, and also 
with those of the emperor, Harrach, and Zin- 
zendorf, about the restoration of the finances. 
They were dreadfully deranged. I had paid 
the army when and how I could. It was ne- 



PRINCE EUGENE. 169 

cessary for a commanding general to have all 
his wits about him. My bills had sometimes 
been protested ; therefore, in the same manner 
as people send diamonds to a pawnbroker, I 
had sometimes pledged provinces. At length, 
by little and little, notwithstanding the dis- 
harmony of the chiefs of the different depart- 
ments, I effected some little improvement in 
the revenues of the state. 

When I received information of the death 
of Louis XIV. it produced, I confess, the 
same effect on me as the fall of an old stately 
oak, uprooted by a tempest, and extended on 
the ground. He had stood so long! Death 
before it erases great recollections, revives 
them all in the first moment. History is in- 
dulgent to princes in their outset. That of 
this great monarch needed no indulgence; 
but now age had blunted the talons of the 
lion. A regency was destined to allow us 
time to breathe. But a circumstance occur- 
red, which cut. out plenty of work for us 



At the beginning of -May, I gave audience 



170 MEMOIRS OF 

to a Turkish ambassador, who came to re- 
quest the emperor not to interfere in the quar- 
rel between the Sublime Porte and Venice. 

On examining myself, I dare not decide 
whether my opinion was not governed by 
some small degree of personality. Glory is 
sometimes a hypocrite, which disguises itself 
in the cloak of the honor of states. One 
imagines insults, charges others with injuries, 
insolence, and bad intentions, and occasions 
the destruction of five hundred thousand men. 
But this time several of the ministers, and 
Guido Stahrenberg himself, though not a 
friend to me, coincided in my opinion. 
Charles VI appointed me to the command of 
one hundred and twenty-five thousand men, 
of whom fifty- five thousand were detached in 
two corps, 

Charles VI. conferred on me the govern- 
ment general of the Low Countries. I gave 
the post of deputy-governor to an Italian 
named Prie. I think I might have made a 
better choice. 



PRINCE EUGENE. 171 

We were again in want of money. Kau- 
nitz went to collect what he could in the 
empire, and the pope granted us a brief for 
levying the tithes and extraordinary dues of 
the clergy in all the provinces of our mo- 
narchy. 

The Turks were placing Temeswar in a 
good state of defence, when a fire, which 
burned forty houses of that town, and another 
at Belgrade, which consumed thirty vessels 
laden with stores, induced a belief that Ma- 
homet disapproved the war. This moment 
of superstition was perhaps fortunate for me; 
for Lbffelholtz made himself master of Me- 
trovitz without resistance. 

The pacha complained of these hostilities. 
Lbffelholtz replied that they had been begun 
on his side by the fire which his saicks had 
opened on some of the imperial* troops who 
were sailing down the Save. The poor pa- 
cha, who perhaps knew nothing of the mat- 
ter, ordered those whu had fired to be im- 
paled ; but this I affected to consider as the 
first effect of anger rather than as a repa- 
ration. 



172 MEMOIRS OF 

It is scarcely possible to decide which of 
two parties is in the wrong at the commence- 
ment of a war. They quarrel, complain, 
recriminate, and fight, before the matter can 
be cleared op. The grand signior would, if 
he durst; 'have confined the emperor's resi- 
dent, and sent the grand vizir with one hun- 
dred and twenty thousand men, who, thinking 
himself extremely cunning, pretended to be 
marching into Dalmatia, and suddenly turned 
off towards Belgrade, with orders not to pass 
the boundary of the two empires. 

After witnessing the birth and decease of 
a young archduke, I set off from Vienna on 
the 1st of July, in consequence of information, 
either true or false, that the Turks intended 
to cross the Save. Langlet took possession 
of Ratheza. The Sublime Porte sent us a 
long manifesto, clever enough for a christian 
potentate, which contained sound argument, 
and wore an air of good faith ; but it was easy 
for us to prove that a' Turkish spy had al- 
ready been impaled in our camp, and that an 
Hungarian renegado was collecting deserters 
of all nations to form a corps foi the service 
of the Porte. 



PRINCE EUGENE. 173 

On the 27lh of July, I went to Pcterwa- 
radin, and the grand vizir into the old en- 
trenchments at Semlin. I had no great diffi- 
culty to draw him from them ; for having as 
much inclination to fight as myself, he met 
me halfway. His name was Hali ; and such 
was his enmity to the Christians, that after 
taking one hundred thousand florins as the 
ransom of Breuner, who had been made pri- 
soner, he nevertheless afterwards ordered his 
head to be cut off, as will be seen presently. 
A favorite with his father-in-law, Aclimet III. 
deeply involved in the intrigues of the serag- 
lio, ignorant and presumptuous, he was the 
Villeroi of the Turks. " This grand vizir 
of the infidels," said he, meaning me, <: is 
not what he passes for. This will presently 
be seen, for I am marching against him. 
He accordingly crossed the Save. I sent 
John Palfy to reconnoitre ; he had two horses 
killed under him, and retired in good order, 
though seventy thousand spahis attempted to 
surround him ; but he gained a defile. 
" This at least," said \, " is a pretty decisive 
act of hostility on their part." It. took place 
at Carlowitz, the very spot where peace had 



174 MEMOIRS OF 

been concluded seventeen years before, On 
the 2d of August, I crossed the Danube with 
my army. The host of spahis, who fancied 
they had gained some advantage in the great 
skirmish to which I have alluded, arrived 
too late to prevent me. They found me en- 
camped behind old entrenchments ; and as 
soon as Hali arrived with his janissaries, he 
fell to work to besiege me in their usual way. 
The approaches, trenches, parallels, batteries, 
were all commenced, and almost finished in 
some places by day-break. They follow, as 
I have already observed, the plan of the Ro- 
mans, without being aware of it, by entrench- 
ing themselves immediately on their arrival. 
On the 5th, at eight in the morning, they sa- 
luted me with all their artillery. I fully 
expected that this famous grand vizir would 
commit some blunder or other, and that he 
would be embarrassed with his superior num- 
bers. Being unable to form a larger front, . 
on account of my iianks being well supported, 
even when marching, he formed small bodies 
of troops, which did not engage. These were 
perhaps designed for reserves, which his good 
sense might have suggested the idea of ( for 



PRINCE EUGENE. 175 

he was not deficient in that or in courage 
either), but which were afterwards forgot- 
ten. The Prince of Wiirtemberg, whom I 
ordered to make the first attack on my left, 
broke the enemy, and penetrated every where. 
But my right went on badly; the eight co- 
lumns being obliged to break, in order to pass 
the apertures in my entrenchments, and being 
unable to deploy, on account of the proximity 
of those of the Turks, were roughly handled. 
Lanken and Wallenstein were killed. At this 
moment, Bonneval once more laid me under 
the greatest obligations. All around him were 
killed ; he was himself wounded in the abdo- 
men with a lance. He had but twenty-five 
men left ; but he gave me time to send Palfj. 
with two thousand horse, upon the flank of 
the janissaries, hitherto conquerors in this 
attack. W e then became victorious, but not 
till after an engagement of five hours. I en- 
tered the magnificent tent of the grand vizir, 
Hali ; and there the chaplains of the nearest 
regiments, in a loud voice returned thanks 
to the God of armies in prayers repeated by 
the soldiers, with a demeanor both military 
and religious. 



176 MEMOIRS OF 

From this place I sent Captain Zeil of my 
regiment to the emperor with the account, 
which was only five or six lines. 'Tis easy 
to be modest when one is successful. 

I did not care to pursue the Turks, for 
they were still much stronger than we. They 
were fired upon, in their retreat, by the ar- 
tillery of Peterwaradin. The unfortunate 
Bali died the next day at Carlowitz of two 
wounds which he received while endeavoring 
at the head of his guards to rally the fugi- 
tives ; and it was a few minutes before he' 
expired that he ordered young Breuner, whom 
I have already mentioned, to be put to death, 
" in order/' said he, tc that this dog may not 
survive me. O that I could serve all the 
Christian dogs in the same manner !" 

The 25th of August I encamped before 
Temeswar, which I invested, and amused 
myself with taking the pacha's handsome ki- 
osk and garden, and a mosque which the 
Turks chose rather to abandon,, than, as they 
said, to prophane by defending it. 



PRINCE EUGENE. 17? 

On the 1st of September the trenches were 
opened. I severely scolded Prince Emanuel 
of Portugal, who, not content with being there, 
entered i n pursuit of a small body of Turks 
whom he espied. He had his horse killed, 
and received a violent contusion on the knee. 
Fortunately he did not take warning by this, 
but continued to expose himself much in these 
two campaigns. On the 9th the Turks made 
a wretched sally, and on the 24th a reinforce- 
ment, which they attempted to throw into the 
place, was soundly beaten. 

On the 30th we took by assault the Pa- 
lanka, on which the fate of the town almost 
depended ; but it cost us very dear. I there 
lost a great number of officers, alike distin- 
guished for their military and social qualities. 
On the 13th of October, Temesvvar capitu- 
lated. A few more rainy days would per- 
haps have forced me to raise the siege. How 
fortunate ! The Turks demanded mercy for 
some Cowirouzzers. I recollect that my an- 
swer to this article was : " Those scoundrels 
may go whithersoever they please." That 
appellation is by no means a matter of indif- 

M 



178 MEMOIRS OF 

ference; it signifies a rebel, and though ori- 
ginally confined to those of Hungary, it is 
good policy to encourage the soldier to apply 
it to all the enemies of the house of Austria, 
as if they were its subjects, and consequently 
to treat them with all the contempt that is 
felt for traitors. The merest trifle sometimes 
gives a useful and advantageous bias to an 
army. 

I set out for Vienna, but by the way went 
through, at Raab, the whole tedious ceremony 
of being invested with the consecrated cap 
and stock, with which the pope was pleased to 
decorate me. 

The venerable veteran Heister, whom I had 
appointed governor after the battle and siege 
in which he had distinguished himself (being 
determined to take part in them, notwith- 
standing his great age) came to meet me at 
the head of the garrison. Bishop Gindorput 
the cap on my head* I wrote a handsome 
letter in Latin to his holiness, and pursued 
my journey with the Chevalier Rospoli, who 
had brought me all these fine things, whom 



PRINCE EUGENE. 179 

I bad taken as a volunteer about my person, 
and who was soon afterwards killed in a duel 
about a courtezan. 



1717. 

Nobody complained of an enormous but 
very judiciously divided tax, imposition, and 
contribution, which I proposed to be laid on 
the whole monarchy, at the same time fur- 
nishing it with means of commerce which no- 
body would have thought of. Charles VI. 
ordered all those who had it in their power 
to interfere, not to molest me, and he found 
the benefit of it. Oppenheim, the celebrated 
Jew, supplied me in a very short time with 
remounts and stores. They cost me rather 
dear, but I was in haste. 

Princes and volunteers came from all 
quarters to serve under me, in numbers suf- 
ficient to compose a squadron. Among the 
former were a Prince of Hesse, two of Ba- 
varia, a Bevern, a Culmbach, one of Wijr- 
temburg, two of Ligne, one of Lichtenstein, 
m 2 



ISO MEMOIRS OF 

one of Anhalt Dessau,, the Comte de Charo- 
lai, the Princes of Dombes, Marsiilac, Pons, 
&c. &e. 

The emperor made me a present of a mag- 
nificent diamond crucifix, assuring me that 
all my victories had come and would come 
from God- — an excellent way of releasing 
himself from all obligations to me; and I set 
out for Futack, where I re-assembled the 
army at the end of May. 

It was necessary for me to make myself 
master of Belgrade, which, during three cen- 
turies, had been so often taken and retaken. 
Luckily, I found there no John de Capistran, 
the Franciscan, who, with the crucifix in his 
hand, and standing all day in the hottest fire, 
defended the place with such obstinacy; nor 
an Hunniades who commanded there against 
Mahomet II. in 1456. Hunniades died of 
his wounds ; Mahomet lost an eye, and the 
friar was canonized. 

The grand signior had unfortunately too 
well replaced the hot-headed grand vizir, who 



PRINCE EUGENE. 181 

had been killed. His successor was Hatschi 
Ali, Pacha of Belgrade, who made the most 
judicious dispositions for the preservation of 
the place, and gave me a good deal of trou- 
ble. The 10th of June I crossed the Da- 
nube ; my volunteer princes threw themselves 
into boats that they might arrive first, and 
have an opportunity of charging the spahis 
with some squadrons of Mercy's regiment, 
which had already crossed below Panczova, 
for the purpose of covering the landing of 
some, and the bridge constructed upon eighty- 
four vessels for the others. On the 1 9th I 
went with a strong escort to reconnoitre the 
spot where I intended to pitch my camp. 
Twelve hundred spahis rushed upon us with 
unparalleled fury, shouting Allah ! Allah ! 
I know not how one of their officers forced 
his way through a squadron in front of me, 
that he might come to seek me at the head of 
the second, where I was from prudence, hav- 
ing a great many orders to give. He missed 
me. I was going to dispatch him with my 
pistol, when a dragoon, by my side, knocked 
him from his horse. We had the same day a 
naval engagement, which lasted two hours 



182 MEMOIRS OF 

and as our saicks gained the advantage,, I 
remained master of the operations on the Da- 
nube. The 20th I made the troops work at 
the lines of countervallation, under a tre- 
mendous fire from the town. Toward the 
conclusion of June, I removed my camp so 
near to Belgrade, that the balls were inces- 
santly flying over my head. A tempest de- 
stroyed my bridges; and but for the intrepi- 
dity of a Hessian officer in a redoubt, I know 
not how I should have reconstructed that of 
the Save. 

Intending to take the place from the side 
next the water, I sent Mercy to attack a fort 
at the mouth of the Donawitz ; but he fell 
from his horse in a fit of apoplexy. He was 
brought back, and supposed to be dead ; for- 
tunately, however, he afterwards recovered. 
Being apprised of the accident, I went to 
replace him, and the fort was taken. The 
Prince of Dombes had a narrow escape by my 
side, from a ball which made my horse prance. 
Marcilly was killed while bravely defending 
himself in a post, which I had directed him 
to entrench. He begged assistance of Ro- 



PRINCE EUGENE. 183 

dolpli Heister, who refused it, and who was 
Juckilv killed (as a punishment for his cow- 
ardice) by a cannon-ball, which reached him 
behind his chevaux de fiise. I arrived by 
accident at first with a strong- escort only; I 
sent for a large detachment; i stopped, and 
completely defeated the janissaries, leaving 
indeed five hundred killed upon the spot, and 
among them, Taxis, Visconti, Suger, &c. 
Here also fell the Pacha of Romelia, the best 
officer of the Mussulmans. 

On the 22d of July, my batteries were 
finished. I bombarded, burned, and bat- 
tered down the city at such a rate, that it 
would have capitulated, but for the intelli- 
gence that the grand vizir was expected to 
arrive on the 30th at Nissa, with two hun- 
dred thousand men. 

The 1st of August he made his appearance 
Ofl the heights that overlooked my camp, ex- 
tending in a semicircle from the hills of 
Kxatzka to those of Dedina. The Mussul- 
who covered them formed tiie Cinv-t 
amphitheatre in the world, a charming view 



184 MEMOIRS OF 

for a painter, but a most detestable one for a 
general. Cooped up between this army and 
a fortress with a garrison of thirty thousand 
men, the Danube on my right, and the Save 
on my left, my resolution was formed. I in- 
tended to march out of my lines to attack 
them, notwithstanding the advantage of their 
ground; but the fever, which had already 
begun to make havoc among my army, did 
not spare me. There was I seriously ill, and 
confined to my bed, instead of being at the 
head of my troops, whom I was anxious to 
lead to glory. 

I must needs think that they were rather 
uneasy at court, in the city, and even in my 
army. Both courage and good fortune are 
required to extricate one's self from such a 
situation. Any general, who should have 
replaced me, might, nay must, have supposed 
that he should be ruined if he retreated, and 
beaten if he did not. Our condition was 
growing daily worse. The heavy artillery of 
the Turks had arrived on the heights which 
I have mentioned. We were so bombarded 
from them, as well as from the fortress, that 



PRINCE EUGENE. 1S5 

I knew not where to place my tent, for several 
of mv servants had heen killed going into and 
out of it. In the little skirmishes (and such 
were very frequent) with the spahis, my 
young volunteers never failed to go and ply 
their pistols, though the cannon always inter- 
fered in these affairs. One day d'Esrade, 
governor of the Prince de Dombes, had a leg 
shot off by his side, and one of his pages was 
killed. All our princes whom I have named 
above distinguished themselves, and loved 
me as their father. 

I had caused the country in the rear of the 
grand vizir's army to be ravaged; but those 
people, as well as their horses, and above all 
their camels, subsist almost upon nothing. 
Not an hour passed in which I was not losing 
a score men by the dysentery, or the cannon 
of the lines, which the infidels every night 
advanced a good deal nearer to my entrench- 
ts. I was, if any thing, less the besieger than 
the besieged. Things went on better for me 
in the city. A bomb in a powder magazine 
completely destroyed it, and occasioned the 
loss of three thousand lives. 



186 MEMOIRS OF 

At length I recovered from my disorder, 
and on the 15th of August, in spite of the 
bad advice of people who are not fond of bat- 
tles,, I determined upon an engagement. I 
expected that ennui and despair would give 
me success. 

I slept not like Alexander before the battle 
of Arbela,, though the Turks did, without 
being Alexanders : opium and predestination 
make them philosophers. I gave short and 
clear instructions according to any circum- 
stances that might happen, and left my en- 
trenchments about one in the morning. The 
darkness, and then the fog, rendered my first 
efforts a game of chance. Some of my batta- 
lions of the right wing fell on their march, 
without intending it, into a branch of the 
trenches of the Turks. Dreadful was the 
confusion that ensued among them, as they 
have neither advanced posts nor scouts ; our 
confusion was not less, baffling all description : 
on the left and in the centre they began firing 
on both sides, without knowing at what. 
The janissaries fled from their entrenchments, 
into which I had time to throw fascines and 



PRINCE EUGENE. 187 

gabions, to form a passage for my cavalry, 
who pursued them I know not how. The 
fog dispersed, and the Turks perceived a ter- 
rible opening; but for nay second line, which 
I ordered to march immediately to fill this 
chasm, I should have been undone. I would 
then have marched in order; but no such 
thing ; I was better served than I imagined. 
La Colonic, at the head of his Bavarians, 
gave way to his ardor, and took a battery of 
eighteen pieces of cannon. I was obliged to 
do better than I would : I supported the Ba- 
varians ; and the Turks, after running to the 
very heights, lost all the advantage of their 
ground. A large body of their cavalry fell upon 
mine, which had advanced too far; a whole 
regiment was cut in pieces, but two others 
seasonably coming up to its relief, decided 
the victory. Here I received a cut with a 
sabre ; it was, I believe, my thirteenth wound, 
and probably ray last. All was over by ele- 
ven in the morning. Viard, during the ac- 
tion, overawed the garrison of Belgrade, 
which capitulated the same day. I forgot 
that there was no Boufflcrs in the city; I be- 
haved generously, and granted the honors of 



18$ MEMOIRS OF 

war to the garrison, who., not snowing whai 
they meant, neglected to avail itself of them. 
Men, women, children, carriages and camels, 
departed all at once, pell-mell, either by land 
or by water. 

At Vienna the devout ascribed my success 
to a miracle, and those who envied me to good 
luck. Charles VI. I believe was among the 
former, and Guido Stahrenberg among the 
latter. I was well received there as might be 
expected. 

It has already been seen that I sometimes 
sat in judgment on myself, Here is my opi- 
nion respecting this victory., which I have ra- 
ther to justify myself for than to boast of. My 
partizans have extolled it too highly, and 
those who were jealous of me have found too 
much fault with it. They ought rather to 
have proposed to cut off my head on this oc- 
casion than for Zenta, for there I risked 
nothing. I was sure of victory ; whereas here 
I might not only have been beaten, but over- 
whelmed, undone, if a tempest or the cannon 
of the Turkish lines to the left on the banks 



PRINCE EUGENE. 189 

of the Danube had destroyed my bridges ; but 
1 had indeed the superiority in saicks, work- 
men, and gunners to protect or repair them, 
and a corps at Semlin. 

Could I anticipate the tardiness or ill-will 
of authorities which clash where there are so 
many internal abuses in the administration, 
and such ignorance in the heads of the civil 
department and commissariat ? This cause 
kept me destitute of all that was necessary for 
me to begin the siege and take Belgrade 
before the arrival of the Grand Vizir ; and 
this afterwards prevented me from being be- 
forehand with him upon the heights ; which I 
should nevertheless have been but for my 
accursed fever, before his artillery had arrived 
there. And then that unfortunate dysentery 
which carried my army to the hospital, or 
rather to the grave ; for every regiment had a 

cemetery behind its camp could any one 

anticipate that too ? It was these two reasons 
that made me attack and consequently risk 
every thing and nothing, for I was as sure to 
be ruined in one way as in the other. I threw 
up entrenchments upon entrenchments : I 



190 MEMOIRS OF 

knew a little more on that subject than my 
comrade the Grand Vizir ; and had a suffi- 
cient number of people in health to guard 
them. I obliged him to decamp for want of 
provisions (for the country to the distance of 
seven miles behind his camp had been ra- 
vaged, as I have already observed ) and con- 
sequently Belgrade to surrender. If then 
this manuscript should come to light, no 
praise, my dear reader, nor censure. In a 
word, I might not have come off so well, but 
for the protection of the Virgin, according to 
the opinion of Charles VI. his Jesuit, and the 
pious souls who wished me at the devil; for 
the battle was fought on Assumption day. 

Europe was negociating elsewhere. Some 
charitable creature advised the emperor to 
send me for that purpose to London, with a 
view to procure for another the easy glory 
of putting an end to the war. 



PRINCE EUGENE. 191 



1718. 

I was not such a simpleton as to be caught 
in this snare, and I set out for Hungary at the 
beginning of June, with a fine sword, and 
eighty thousand florins, given me by the 
emperor. 

In regard to friends and enemies, I ought 
to observe that I was often indebted for my 
successes to foreigners serving in my armies. 
Among these I have had the following French- 
men : Commercy, Vaudemont, Stainville, Ra- 
butin, Erbeville, Saint-Amour, Dupigny, 
Montigny. Corbeille, Bonneval, Langallerie, 
Castel, Viard, Aubonne, the two Mercys; 
Princes of Lorraine, Croy, la Marche, Hau- 
tois, Gondrecour, La Colonie, Batte, Faber, 
Marisny, Martigny, Langlet, and the Duke 
of Aremberg, whom I may reckon foreign- 
ers, being from the Low Countries. All of 
them had many French officers in their regi- 
ments. There were likewise a great number 
in the two regiments of Francis and Leopold 
Lorraine, in mine, in that of my nephew, 



J 82 MEMOIRS OF . 

and of Emanuel, Prince of Portugal. Ha- 
milton, Brown^ and the two Waliis's, were 
Irish. Of Italians I had Mareelli, Monte- 
cucuHi, Veterani, Locatelli^ Arragoni, Bagni^ 
Orselti, Maffei,, Magni Videlli, Negrelli, 
Rosa Grana, Porica, Perselli, Cavriani, Stra- 
soldo, &c. and of Spaniards, Vasques, Galbes., 
Cordua, Ahumada, and Alcandet. 

I might also reckon as foreigners (for they 
pass almost for such at Vienna) the Hunga- 
rians, of whom I had two Palfys, Nadasti, 
Esterhazy, Spleni, Ebergeni, Baboezai, which 
proves that there were many Austrians at 
court, and few in the army; my Germans be^ 
ing almost all from the empire. The heads, 
of families and the eldest sons do not enter 
into the service in this country. It was in 
vain that I attempted to introduce the fa- 
shion. 

The Turks were desirous of making peace, 
and so was the emperor. I could very well 
have dispensed with it, for I confess that I 
was fond of war. All the courts sent nego^ 
ciators to Passarowitz. To procure the bet- 



PRINCE EUGENE. 193 

ter conditions, I marched towards the grand 
vizir, who had just arrived with his array in 
the neighbourhood of Nissa. I should 
have an easy task, for he had only eighty 
thousand men ; I was inthe best disposition for 
attacking him, when a cursed courier 
brought me the unwelcome intelligence that 
the treaty of peace had been signed on the 
21st of July. With us this is only called a 
truce, which one observes as long as one 
pleases, or breaks according to circumstances. 
This lasted but twenty-five years. It was a 
cardinal, who ought to have been the enemy 
of Mahomet, that saved his empire. In this 
manner policy trifles with religion. Alberoni 
caused Spain to declare against us. 

If the repairs which I ordered to be made 
at Orsowa, and the fortifications at Belgrade, 
and the allotment of quarters in Hungary 
had not detained me there, I should have 
caused the emperor to be respected in my go- 
vernment general of the Low Countries. Prie 
-oppressed the first commotion by fetch- 
ing from Luxemburg Prince Ferdinand de 
Ligne'fl regiment of dragoons. A second 

N 



194 MEMOIRS Otf 

took place ; the rioters in the great square at 
Brussels were fired upon, but instead of con^- 
tinuing to employ force,, Prie was frightened 
because he was told that the country-people 
were coming to avenge the death of the inha- 
bitants of the city. He ought to have been 
recalled, but the wily Italian, well aware 
that this would be my opinion, made amends 
for his weakness. 



1719, 

With a force of twenty-five thousand men, 
whom I prevailed upon the emperor to send 
to the Low Countries, upon a third rebellion 
( for the citizens of Brussels attempted from 
day to day to undermine the authority of the 
sovereign) he caused, on the 18th of Decem- 
ber, the five ring-leaders to be hanged, and 
Anniessens, the father of the city, to be be- 
headed* When his head dropped upon the 
scaffold, the silly rebels dipped their hand- 
kerchiefs in his blood, as formerly in that of 
Eg;mont and Hoorn; and all was over* 



PRINCE EUGENE. 195 

Weary of these disturbances, to which one 
could not apply the name of revolts, and the 
absurdities of Prie and Bonneval, who, at the 
distance of three hundred leagues, endeavored 
to oblige me to take up the sword again, and 
to crown all his indiscretions had turned 
Turk, I requested the emperor to give his 
sister a government, to which I had not time 
to go and reduce the people to reason. Here 
is what I had written to Prie during the trou- 
bles ; which proves that people knew not 
what they were talking about when they said 
that I supported him; for I never studied ap- 
pearances : " Represent to the Flemings, that 
is their interest to cause a belief that they 
have it in their power to revolt, in order that 
they may be treated with some indulgence by 
the court; but never to do so because they 
would demonstrate the poverty of their cha- 
racter, and the nullity of their resources. 
Represent to them that with four pieces of 
cannon at ihe corners of a city, one may make 
it tremble. Represent to the least stupid, 
that nothing is ever gained by a revolution, 
because people know not what to set up in tins 

N 2 



196 MEMOIRS OF 

place of what they have destroyed ; and that 
the worst of sovereigns is preferred io the 
ablest men who succeed him. Besides, ours 
is too good to them; the government of the 
House of Austria is the roost mild. Repre- 
sent to the most upright that the accomplish- 
ment of a revolution requires crimes which 
make one shudder, but without which rebels 
are only laughed at; and that they must 
choose between the gibbet and obedience : 
and you, M- Prie, between your recal and the 
Spielberg; vigor to prevent insurrections, and 
rigor to punish them/' 

The emperor made me his vicar-general in 
Italy, with a salary of one hundred and fifty 
thousand florins. 

Alberooi, our inveterate enemy, being dis- 
missed, and his Philip IV. having acceded 
to the quadruple alliance. I had time to think 
of my pleasure. It was my fancy to build my 
palaces in the suburbs, somewhat in the Turk- 
ish or Arabic taste, with my four towers, 
which I well know were not in any genuine 



PRINCE EUGENE. 197 

style of architecture, but ihcy called to mind 
a great event. It was the spot where, in 
1529, the grand vizir had pitched his tent ; 
and I constructed my monagerie at Beugebey 
exactly like the Mufti's camp, with towers 
in which there had been tents for prayer. 

The arrangement of my mans, plans, and 
fine editions which I had bought in London, 
and of the excellent French, Latin, and 
Italian works, well bound, afforded me occu- 
pation, as well as my cascades, large jets 
clean, and superb basons. To return to my 
towers, for which I was censured, I replied 
to those who found fault with them: " I am 
as well acquainted as you are with the five 
Grecian orders, and also with the seven orders 
of battle of Vegetius. I like to have an order 
of my own in both sciences, and I have found 
the benefit of it." 

A very agreeable moment for me was oc- 
casioned by a Turkish embassy. The grand 
signior sent me the two finest Arabian horses 
I ( vcr saw, a scymctar, and a turban, with 
this message: "The one is a symbol of thy 



198 MEMOIRS OF 

valor, the other of thy genius and of thy 
wisdom." I like this eastern compliment 
and distrust those of christians. 



1720, 

This was one of the most tranquil years of 
my life. Taken up entirely with the arts and 
company, I did not do much. We had, as 
every where else, love intrigues and court 
intrigues ; but among the latter, none of those 
of waiting-women, such as we had seen in 
France. Our sovereigns, fortunately owing 
to their great pride, do not degrade themselves 
by. intercourse with the vulgar; and every 
where else the valets, the grooms of the time 
of Rodolph II. the huntsmen (where the 
monarch is fond of the chace) and, in short, 
mean people possess influence, afford protec- 
tion, are dangerous, and do mischief. Charles 
VL on the contrary, in order to keep them at 
a distance, made his chamberlains dress him, 
and they, after putting on his shoes, made a, 
low genuflexion, and retired without uttering 
a word. 



PRINCE EUGENE. 199 

Agreeably to my advice, Hie protestants 
were protected against the too orthodox 
catholics and the Elector Palatine, to whom, 
but for this, the King of Prussia would have 
proved that he was the protector of his re- 
ligion. In spite of me, Nimsch was punished 
for having written against me, it was said, and 
for having corresponded with Alberoni; but I 
procured a pardon for him, at least in part. 
As I did not even care about the excellent 
songs of Rousseau and Bonneval, still less 
should I notice paltry paragraphs, or ill- 
written declamations. 



1722, 



I had not much to say, and very little to do, 
Charles VI. displayed his magnificence at 
the marriage of his niece. I gave entertain- 
ments too, and must confess that I was de- 
lighted with my military court, and my old 
comrades. That of the emperor was natu- 
rally more illustrious in point of rank, but 
not in merit. All the most distinguished 



200 MEMOIRS OF 

persons in the empire were there. But the 
situation of La Favorita, in a street of the 
suburbs, was not favorable either to diver- 
sion or dignity. The dresses were all superb ; 
but taking no pleasure in parade of that kind, 
I often wore my uniform, and some of the ge- 
nerals followed my example. 

I received a great deal of company at my 
house between dinner and the play, because 
I find that more business may be done in a 
drawing-room than in a closet. I walked 
about with some foreign minister, or sat down 
in a corner with some of our own ; and a com- 
municative air makes people talkative. On 
the other hand, I often see the reserve of 
others repel every body ; and, concealing their 
mediocrity under the cloak of gravity and 
discretion, these gentlemen know no one, they 
are unacquainted with public and private 
opinion ; and less secret than discreet, they 
are strangers to all that is passing. ^Tis thus 
that sovereigns are often deceived for want of 
mixing with society. 



There has not been a single bad one of the 



PRINCE EUGENE. 201 

House of Austria, excepting Philip II. all his 
life, and Ferdinand II. once or twice. 
Charles VI. was only unfortunate in the 
choice of his servants. His minister of the 
fiuances was an idiot. I caused him to be 
dismissed, and Gundacker Stahrenberg, a 
man of merit, to be appointed in his stead. 
Strattman likewise possessed infinite merit and 
great intelligence. Jorger had sound judg- 
ment, and spoke and wrote extremely well. 



1723. 

Charles VI. went to be crowned Kino- of 
Bohemia : more pleasures and ceremonies. 
Charles had a reserved Spanish air, and took 
but little pains to laugh, though he was very 
fond of buffoons. This is always the case 
h people who are not naturally cheerful. 
He was good and just. 

Leopold, in my opinion, had more under- 
standing ; but Joseph, who possessed still 
more than either, was amiable, and would 
have governed in his own person. I said to 



SOS MEMOIRS OF 

him, shortly before his death : ee Employ, 
sire, none but honest men ; but if you some-* 
times find a scoundrel willing to undertake 
the dirty work of intrigues,, and not ashamed 
to have his conduct disavowed, make use of 
such an one without esteeming him. The 
honor of states is not so ticklish as that of 
individuals. Bad faith and meanness, independr 
ently of the abhorrence which they excite, 
are not sound policy. But address and dis- 
simulation are allowable. Don't proceed too 
far against Rome and the clergy. You do 
not love France ; that I think perfectly 
natural, for though beaten by us at present* 
she possesses more resources than your 
majesty. If we continue successful., notwith- 
standing the change which is preparing in 
England, after you have made peace, do not 
begin again ; and never threaten any power, 
till you are ready to strike. A young and 
ambitious monarch at the head of that, would 
conquer the world. Fortunately when Louis 
XIV. was young, he speedily returned to 
Versailles to dance Vaimdble vainqueur, and 
to hear an opera by his panegyrist Quinault : 
and at present he has not long to live/* 



PRINCE EUGENE. 203 

Though Joseph was not a bigot like bis suc- 
cessor, he would never have deceived the 
share-holders of the company of Ostend, and 
with his magnanimous character, be would 
not have crouched, like him, to the maritime 
powers. He one day said to me: ff HadI 
been in my father's place, I should not have 
run away to Lintz, when you entered into our 
service. I would not have suffered myself to 
be shut up in Vienna; but would have acted 
as aid-de-camp to the Duke of Lorraine, at 
the battle of Vienna. I know what courtiers 
are. I saw enough of them at the siege of 
Landau. They pretended to tremble for us, 
and it is for themselves they tremble all the 
while." The severe and frigid Leopold was 
not fond of Joseph. He was more partial to 
Charles, his younger brother, who was less 
petulant, and more of a Spaniard in every 
respect, and could not forgive his love of 
pleasure, and his bursts of passion. It is true 
he was once guilty of great indecorum in 
beating, in his presence, and that of a large 
company at a public entertainment, one of 
his people who did not pay proper attention to 
him. 



204 MEMOIRS OF 

When I did not di recti} 7 interfere in matters 
of little importance, I was reproached with 
indolence, authorized, it was spitefully observ- 
ed, by my long and active military service. 
Had I entered into all the petty details, I 
should have been called trifling. I left them to 
Koch, Etlet and Brotkhausen, my referenda- 
ries. People clamored against them ; that 
made very little impression upon me : I had on 
my side all the gord company, the populace, 
and the soldiery/ whom I loved more than I 
did a great many illustrious nobles, with 
whom I had occasion to be dissatisfied for 
their want of talents in war. I supported 
those three gentlemen,, it was alleged. I 
was not a weathercock to turn with every wind. 
They understood me if I spoke but half a 
word ; and I should have done more harm to 
the public service by changing them, than 
good by redressing perhaps some slight 
abuses which it is difficult to discover and 
to prevent. 

I read much, and had others to read to me: 
I had scarcely ever had time for it before. I 
was surprised to find in the history of the 



PRINCE EUGENE 203 

Greeks, the Romans, and the French, of the 
early years of Lous XIV. many things which 
I had done without knowing* of these pre- 
cedents, as if by instinct. I resolved to give 
my library to the emperor after my death, for 
he wants it, but my niece not at all. She 
will like better to play and to keep a little 
court. 



1724. 

I applied myself a good deal to internal 
affairs. I said to the ministers : " Cannot 
you disband this host of underlings, who pre- 
vent the money from reaching the pocket of 
the sovereign ? contrive a tax proportionate 
to the income or earnings of each individual ? 
provide habitations for paupers, and set them 
to work ? consult the Englis! , ihz Dutch, 
the bankers, for a good sv i nance and 

manufactures ? invite Flemings io improve 
our agriculture? bring our heaths into cul- 
tivation, by means of the monks or the 
soldiers, for whoa-, villages might be built on 



206 MEMOIRS OF 

them ? borrow of the clergy at two per cent ? 
dig a bed for the river Wien, to carry off the 
filth of the esplanade, which infects the city, 
and construct a line quay planted with four 
alleys of plantain-trees or acacia ? join the 
rivers by canals ? cause the roads to be re- 
paired by the proprietors of the adjacent 
lands, without ruining the government by 
constructing them ? double our population 
by the Huguenots of France, and the emi- 
grants from the empire who are ill used by 
their petty tyrants of sovereigns ?" 

I said to our generals : cc Cannot you, to 
spare the emperor's subjects, raise regiments 
of Turks, Poles, Prussians, Saxons, and Itali- 
ans, by inducing them to desert, and enlist- 
ing deserters ? levy an Hungarian, Austrian, 
Bohemian, and Walloon army, with none but 
officers of their respective nations to keep 
alive emulation; give furloughs to native 
subjects; keep up strong garrisons at Vienna, 
Presburg, Olmutz, Gratz, Lintz, Brussels, 
Luxemburg, and Milan ; form an entrenched 
camp on each frontier, since fortresses are too 



PRINCE EUGENE. 207 

expensive; and encourage the breeding of 
horses, that money may not be carried out of 
the country ?" 

Report has given a mistress to Charles VI. 
as to any other person — the Spanish Altheiin, 
though she was no more his mistress than the 
Italian lady was mine formerly, or than 
Bathiany is now: but as his friend, I said to 
her : f * Cannot you persuade the emperor to 
gain the love of the electors and first princes 
of the empire; to draw them to Vienna by 
magnificent fetes ; to give them the order of 
the Fleece, or some other to their ministers, or 
colors to their bastards, and pensions or 
handsome recruiting-officers to their mis- 
tresses ?" 

I said to the confessor: — "Prevent accu- 
sations, informations, cabals, unjust proceed- 
ings for want of entering into the merits of 
cases ; the monks from enriching themselves 
by foundations and votive gifts. Allow every 
convent to keep a certain number of in 
valids." 



208 MEMOIRS OF 

To the emperor I said : cc Prevent the 
Prussians, sire, from rising; the Russians, 
from forming and acquainting themselves 
with our affairs; and the French from gain- 
ing the preponderance. Your monarchy is 
rather straggling; but for that very reason it 
adjoins the north, the south, and the east. It 
is moreover in the centre of Europe, to which 
your majesty ought to give law." 

I return to the Spanish Altheim. As 
Charles VI. liked to speak Spanish, he distin- 
guished this lady. He would have made love 
with the same gravity as he killed the grand - 
equerry whom I have just named. He was 
afflicted beyond measure at the accident; 
but nothing ever appeared on his imperial 
face. 

It were to be wished that this female had 
introduced into Austria the gallantry of her 
country, like the mother of Louis XIV. to 
whom the court of France owed its politeness, 
its taste, the amenity of its manners, still 
rather savage, in consequence of the troubles 



PRINCE EUGENE. 209 

which that nation, fickle and cruel as chil- 
dren, prolonged with such barbarity, Of 
this the Germans are incapable, but without 
gallantry, fortunately not without love; though 
restrained by the devotion of their sovereigns, 
this only excited a higher relish for its plea- 
sures, which were not the less indulged in at 
Vienna. There are in this country so many 
beautiful women, that in vain were ugly ones 
sought as attendants on Ihe court; scarcely 
any could be found, and thus the intention of 
their Imperial Majesties to remove all danger- 
ous objects from their antichambers and gal- 
leries was never accomplished. 



1725. 

The Congress of Cambray went on very 
ill ; Riperda was sent to Vienna. He was 
referred to Zinzendorf and me, to whom was 
left the business of demanding, refusing, and 
at length accommodating matters; and on 
the 1st of May we signed the treaty between 
Austria and Spain. I was much pleased with 
the society of the Duke de Richelieu, whom 

o 



210 MEMOIRS OF 

Cardinal Fleury caused to be ridiculously re- 
called, on account of an absurd story of a 
conspiracy in the gardens of Leopoldstadt. By 
a double artifice on his part, of policy and 
love, he endeavored and expected to gain 
Madame de Bathiany; and thinking himself 
extremely cunning, he sometimes played with 
us at piquet. This amused us much. The 
wish for an adventure that should make some 
noise, rendered him every day more and more 
agreeable to us both. He won neither the 
lady nor the secret; but we were delighted 
with his redoubled pains to please us. 



1726. 

After having been a soldier, minister, grand 
vizir, financier, postilion, negociator, I was 
at last made a merchant. I established the 
Ostend company, which the gold and jealousy 
of the maritime powers caused afterwards to 
be suppressed ; and another at Vienna, to 
traffic, export, and navigate upon the Danube 
and Adriatic Sea, where I converted Trieste 
into a port capable of containing two squa- 



PRINCE EUGENE. 211 

drons of men of war, to escort and protect the 
merchant vessels. I directed other small 
ports, or at least shelters, to he formed in the 
Gulf of Venice, the advantages of which 
Merc acknowledged by the whole monarchy. 



1727. 

I spent this whole year in consulting mer- 
chants, bankers, and men of business; in 
drawing them over from foreign countries ; 
in writing to England and Holland, for the 
purpose of establishing good commercial 
houses at Ostend and Antwerp ; and to Spain, 
Italy, and even Turkey, with a view to esta- 
blish others at Trieste and Vienna. This 
interested, amused, and occupied me exceed- 
ingly. I frustrated the miserable plans of 
our ministers of finance, who had never stu- 
died or travelled. I occasioned the settle- 
ment among us of consuls, a kind of people 
to whom we alone were before strangers. I 
formed studs in Hungary and Bohemia for 
breeding horses, that money might not be sent 

o 2 



212 MEMOIRS OF 

out of the country : and I can affirm that 
for ten years the emperor's affairs never went 
on so well, and perhaps never will again. 



1728. 

Charles VI. resolved to go and examine the 
improvements at Trieste. I was of the party, 
and should have been heartily tired but for 
Prince Francis of Lorraine, who was ex- 
tremely amiable, handsome, only twenty years 
of age, and gay as his little court of Lorraine. 
Some pretty ladies belonging to the court 
who attended the empress in this journey 
contributed to render it pleasing, notwith- 
standing the bigotted austerity of that prin- 
cess. 

Charles VI. though the bravest of men now 
living, was less so by half than Leopold. 
He knew how to give his court a suitable 
degree of splendor, and with us and our 
attendants, he had more than fifteen hundred 
persons in his retinue. He had dances at 



9 



PRINCE EUGENE. 215 

Gratz; killed chamoys by the way; and was 
satisfied with the port and city of Trieste. 



1720. 

To complete my work I had to battle a 
good deal with the too-righteous Catholics 
and big wigs of this country. The Jesuits 
are indulgent when one knows how to manage 
them. They were very useful to me in pro- 
curing a cessation of the persecutions prac- 
tised upon the Protestants in my fleet, who 
were forbidden the exercise of their religion. 
The only sailors left me were those who had 
none at all, or hypocrites. This was still 
worse ; for how could I trust these two classes 
of people, who had no fear of God, but only 
feared the emperor ? The honest Swedish, 
Danish, Hamburgh, and Liibeck sailors, and 
merchants, returned or remained ; thanks to a 
couple of Protestant ministers whom I kept on 
board of our ships. 



214 MEMOIRS OF 



1730. 



At length I enjoyed the pleasure of having 
the first fair at Trieste ; and after some labor 
upon the finances, to find money enough to 
raise thirty- six thousand men, with whom the 
emperor resolved to augment his army. He* 
was right to hold himself in readiness for 
all events ; 'tis the way t preserve peace. But 
I th ught I could perceive that certain in- 
triguers for their own private interest, or cer- 
tain zealous, but shallow persons, would not 
be displeased to produce a rupture on the first 
opportunity. The French are clever in dis- 
covering what passes, and by these means are 
always in a better condition than others. 



1731. 

The Duke of Liria was the minister of 
Spain, and Robinson minister of England. 
People were [not long in the dark respect- 



PRINCE EUGENE. 215 

ing tny long conferences with them; and on 
the 22d of July, a treaty of offensive alliance 
between our three courts was signed. I am 
no friend to protracted preparations or to 
half-measures. One is ignorant what is pass- 
ing at one's own court, though it is known at 
foreign courts. It is not till the first day of 
the campaign that the public ought to be in- 
formed of alliances. 



1732. 

The court of Versailles,, for example, was 
not duped by the journey to Carlsbad, whither 
I accompanied the emperor, who gave out 
that he was going for the benefit of the wa- 
ters. It was obvious that some interview was 
in contemplation. The King of Prussia was 
waiting for us at Prague, and the moment I 
had dressed myself to pay my respects to him, 
who should enter but his majesty. ft No ce- 
remony/' said he to me, " I am come to chat 
with my master." lie was a Charles Xlf. 
of peace; he dreamt of nothing but military 
matters ; but these were only parades, cxer- 



216 MEMOIRS OF 

cises, short coats,, little hats, and tall men. 
I was obliged to bear him talk on all these 
subjects, of the fine order of his troops, and 
of his economy. Here I took him up, and 
advised him to amass plenty of money and 
plenty of men to defend us if we were at- 
tacked ; for my system, as may be perceived, 
was not to make war, but to create a barrier 
against France, in order to take from her all 
inclination to attack us. Preferring friends 
to allies, who are often troublesome, and a 
kind of tutors, I only engaged him not to de- 
clare against us ; knowing his avarice, I was 
apprehensive lest we should not prevail so far. 
I persuaded Charles VI. to descend a step 
from his Spanish haughtiness, and at least to 
give him a friendly reception. He gave him 
a handsome entertainment, which cost; a good 
deal of money. I prevailed upon all the Bo- 
hemian nobility to pay high honors to the 
king. He would have preferred a review to 
a ball, but that was not our forte. I had 
been so successful in the higher tactics as to 
care nothing about wheeling to the right and 
left, and the manual exercise. The contrast 
of the dignity and magnificence of our em- 



PRINCE EUGENE. 217 

peror in a mantle of gold,, with this royal 
corporal, was very diverting. He returned 
to Potzdam, and we to Vienna. 



1733. 

It was about this time that I clearly per- 
ceived the diminution of my influence. The 
King of Poland died in the month of Febru- 
ary. Russia proposed to assist us in securing 
the election of his son Augustus III. in spite 
of France, who was desirous of again seating 
Stanislaus upon the throne. A great confer- 
ence at court ; scarcely any division of opinion : 
that for making war is espoused principally 
by those who take no part in war, as the mi- 
nisters, the priests,, the women, and the loun- 
gers of a great city. I said one day in a com- 
pany where they were clamoring on the sub- 
ject : c I wish that your Excel lencies, and 
you ladies, were each obliged to pay four 
thousand ducats; and that you fine gentlemen 
had <o march immediately with muskets on 
your should This reminds me of two 



218 MEMOIRS OF 

lines which I read some time ago, I know not 
where : 



Et pour un souffiet qui ne se battrait pas ? 

A la mort fait; courir pour l'honneur des etats. 

At length it was asserted that the so-called 
honor of the state was compromised, if we 
did not go to war. t( I acknowledge it not/' 
said I to the ministers, ee except when it is 
supported by powerful means: those of France 
never were so strong as at present; her 
finances are in the best possible state, in con- 
sequence of twenty years of peace. We have 
had scarcely ten since the peace of Westpha- 
lia ; that is to say, for a period of near eighty 
years. Her administration is wise." I would 
not roundly declare that our's was not, but I 
hinted as much. " What have we to do with 
a war so foreign to the Germanic body, which 
will make this reflection, and send us no as- 
sistance ? The Russians are too distant to af- 
ford any ; and before they arrive the empire 
and Italy will be overrun. Recollect the ver- 
satility of England in my better days : she is 



PRINCE EUGENE. 219 

ever ready to begin again. A mercantile po- 
licy is always to be heard at the doors of her 
parliament. The Englishman, just,, noble, 
upright, and generous, on his private account, 
is the contrary in behalf of his country. J Tis 
a land of contradiction, whose constitution 
the ocean alone supports ; as bad faith in 
speeches, and a desire to shine, support the 
opposition. The haughtiness and unskilful- 
ness often manifested by the emperor's envoys 
at foreign courts, frequently cause them to 
slip away from him, and render it impossible 
to reckon upon any thing; and notwithstand- 
ing my conversations with Liria and Robin- 
son, I would lay a wager that Spain will de- 
clare for France, and England will remain 
neuter." 

Good as were the reasons which I alleged 
to prove that France would be very glad to 
find a pretext for a war with us, and bad as 
were tho*e employed to refute them, the lat- 
ter, nevertheless, prevailed. It was perhaps 
supposed that I should refuse the command 
of the army, which was offered me out of 
compliment; but this was a mistake, for I 



220 MEMOIRS OF 

accepted it. For my own part individually^ 
I am fond of war; and in this I wished to 
meet the fate of Turenne. 

Before I had time to assemble the army, 
the command of which, till my arrival, was 
given to the Duke of Bevern, and while I 
was making all my arrangements with the 
council of w\r, what I had foreseen happened. 
On the 28th of October, the French had taken 
the fortress of Kehl, levied contributions 
throughout the whole empire, and overrun 
4he Milanese. Sardinia and Spain had de- 
clared against us. In vain I represented to 
the empire till I was tired, that the aggres- 
sion of France ought to make it declare in our 
favor : three electors protested against (such 
declaration, alleging that this invasion con- 
cerned only the head of the empire ; that it 
was only a passage through for the purpose 
of attacking Austria, and that France had 
promised to restore all she had taken as soon 
as the emperor should dissolve his connexion 
with the Elector of Saxony. 



PRINXE EUGENE. 22," 



1734. 

Stanislaus was obliged to fly: the Divan 
of Constantinople began to take alarm at the 
preponderance of Russia. The grand vizir, 
Hali Pacha, wrote to me : " Nalkiran is 
dead." This appellation was given to him in 
that country on account of his strength: it 
signifies breaker of horse-shoes. " Poland 
has elected one of her great nobles. Why 
should the Czarina violate in two instances 
her treaties with her neighbors and the li- 
berty of a country, in which she is desirous of 
rendering the crown hereditary, and annul- 
ling an election ? The Sublime Porte is a gua- 
rantee to it, and will not suffer such a pro- 
cedure." 

The influence of Russia and hostility to 
France having gained the ascendancy at our 
court, I could not reply to him that I was of 
the same opinion as the Sublime Porte. In 
spite of my real sentiments, I justified the 
Czarina, and among the wretched reasons 



222 MEMOIRS OF 

which I urged, I said : " That she had en- 
tered Poland with no other view than to put 
an end to the murders and quarrels of the 
different factions who were tearing one another 
in pieces ; that the party which had chosen 
Augustus III. in the same camp where Henry 
de Valois was formerly elected was much 
stronger than that of Stanislaus, too insigni- 
ficant a nobleman to be a king ; and that he 
was supported only because he was father-in- 
law to the King of France ; that the son of 
Augustus II. had been elected Piast; that 
he was as much so as any other ; that the 
primate himself had required it; and that my 
emperor hoped that his and he should agree 
together for the restoration of peace in the 
North of Europe." 

All this I wrote to the Turks, in order to 
afford the Russians no occasion to fight them ; 
for they always pretend to be insulted, and 
the people under their protection oppressed, 
to obtain a pretext for taking some fortresses. 

I arrived on the 25th of April at Heilbron. 
On the 27tb I reviewed the army a few 



PRINCE EUGENE. 223 

leagues from Philipsburg. I still shed tears 
of joy, tenderness, and gratitude, whenever 
I recollect how I was received with repeated 
shouts of cc Long live our father!" and 
thousands of hats thrown into the air. The 
old companions of my campaigns in Hungary, 
Italy, Flanders, and Bavaria, crowded to 
embrace the tops of my boots; they sur- 
rounded me, embraced my horse, and even 
pulled me down with their caresses. This 
moment was certainly the most delicious of 
my life; but it was embittered by the reflec- 
tion that I had only thirty-five thousand men, 
that the enemy had eighty thousand, and an- 
nounced his determination to march to Vi- 
enna. I conducted them into the lines of 
Ettlingen ; but these were calculated for one 
hundred thousand men, and I had no incli- 
nation to repeat the affair of Denain. I 
abandoned them ; but I made so many marches 
and countermarches, and abattis, and played 
off so many stratagems, that I prevented Ber- 
wick from penetrating into the interior of the 
country, lie could do nothing rise than lay 
siege to Philipsburg. This was what I want- 
ed, in order to gain time. His brad was there 



224 MEMOIRS OF 

carried off by a cannon-ball, eight days after 
the opening of the trenches. I was envious 
on this occasion, and it was for the first time 
in my life. I was disappointed in this plan, 
as well as in that of attacking; the French in 
their lines. I thought I had discovered a 
place badly fortified, and with a small quan- 
tity of artillery ; they had neglected it, be- 
cause it was covered by a morass which I had 
been told was passable, but which I found it 
impossible to cross ; for I went myself to re- 
connoitre it : one cannot implicitly rely on 
any report. This has been my practice all 
my life ; I have found the benefit of it, as 
well as of constantly having a pencil in my 
pocket to write down in an officer's tablets 
the order which I give him to carry. 

I had received some Hessian, Hanoverian, 
and Prussian reinforcements : among whom I 
distinguished the prince royal, who appeared 
a young man of infinite promise. D'Asfeld 
had surpassed himself. Never did I see any 
thing so strong; for instance, his ditches, or 
trous des lowps, were conical, and superior to 
those of Conde at Arras : it was from this 



PRINCE EUGENE. 225 

reconnoitring that I formed my opinion of 
the young' prince whom I have just men- 
tioned. When I was resolved to fight, I 
never assembled a council of war ; but this 
time I was sure that every one would be of 
ray opinion. I determined to cross the Rhine, 
and to re-cross it higher up to attack D'As- 
feld. For this service J had destined thirty 
thousand cavalry and ten thousand Swiss. 

This devil of a fellow had all his wits 
about him, and at length took Philipsburg, 
in spite of my cannonade of his camp, in which 
I rather acted the Grand Vizir of Belgrade, 
for my batteries and parapets were elevated to 
fire down upon it, and the water, besides, 
was still more terrible than the fire. I relied 
more upon the effect of the one than the other. 
But what a nation! capable of every thing. 
Richelieu, whom I had known a Sybarite, so 
delicate and voluptuous, the young courtiers, 
the Durases, and the La Vallieres, were me- 
tamorphosed. They only want a leader. 
DAsfcld was a rigid disciplinarian, and set a 
good example ; and before him Berwick held 
tiiem awe. They threw up the trenches in 

p 



226 MEMOIRS OF 

boats, and endured every hardship with 
unequalled patience. I never had any,, for 
ray part, under mental sufferings. The first 
that had attacked the other would have been 
beaten, and had that been my lot, the French 
might have gone to Vienna, for there was no 
fortified place on the way, or upon the flanks: 
and the Elector of Bavaria, who had subject 
of complaint, only waited for this to declare 
against Austria, whose haughtiness or awk- 
wardness gained her friends no where. We 
should have lost the few we had. There was 
no Sobieski to save the capital; I should have 
retired within the lines which I constructed, 
as has been seen in 1705; but meanwhile Te 
Deum would have been sung at Versailles, 
and in the chapel of some of my enemies at 
Vienna. People there at length became 
sensible of the justice of my reasons against 
the war, for they then perceived the inferio- 
rity of our means, with which the barkers 
and firebrands of society cannot be ac- 
quainted. 

Philipsburg being taken, I retired to my 
old camp at Bruchsal. D'Asfeld would have 



NCE EUGENE. 229 

laid siege to Mentz, but this intention I 
obliged him to relinquish, for I hastened to 
cover that place. My marches,, to prevent the 
French from penetrating into Swab i a by the 
Black Forest, have, in my opinion, been suf- 
ficiently extolled. 7 covered Wiirtemberg, 
and they found me every w';ere except in the 
field of battle : for really I could not fight. 
More fatigued than we, but able to recruit 
themselves whenever they pleased, they enter- 
ed into winter quarters ; and I, innocent in 
ray own eyes, deserving neither the praise nor 
the censure with which I have been honored* 
satisfied with a kind of petty passive glory, 
set out for Vienna. 

I had left my nephew, the only remaining 
shoot of my branch of Sa\oy, sick at Mann- 
heim : he died of a fever, as I have been told, 
but I suspect of something else. 'Tis a pity; 
he possessed understanding and courage. 
I •• years of age, he was a 
major-general, but too much of a libertine. 
] allow a man to be a little disposed that way. 
I love the indiscreet and detest Cntos ; they 
icarcely ever stand fire well : but my little 
p2 



228 MEMOIRS OF 

Eugene wa-s fond of bad company and bad 
friends ; and tbese are enough to ruin any 
body. 

ce What have you gained, Sire/' said I to 
the emperor at the first audience, cc in this 
war, which I again advise your majesty to 
terminate as early as possible ? After the 
loss of two battles in Italy, your troops will 
be driven from the country, as they have 
been out of Naples and Sicily. Consider that 
it is a French army, a very different sort of 
thing from mine, which is a piece of mosaic 
work. We are still waiting for the contin- 
gents of five or six petty allies, who, possessing 
not a sous, sell their insignificant aid to your 
majesty, and their hearts to France. The 
great succours which Russia is sending you, 
amount to no more than fourteen thousand 
men, whom she will soon recal ; for after 
leadingus into this war, she will ( which heaven 
avert!) perhaps hurry you into another with 
the Turks, which I believe they are even 
going to begin." Charles VI. with his usual 
taciturnity, only told me to say the same thing 
to the council of conference. 



PRINCE EUGENE. 229 

I gained over all the military men to my 
opinion. I saiil to them: — " While the ma- 
ritime states, who are desirous of peace for 
the preservation of the balance of power in 
Europe, strive to accomplish their purpose, 
I shall collect all the force I can, since that is 
the way to put an end to the business. 

At the end of April I set off for Heilbron, 
and took up my excellent camp at Bruchsal, 
as I had done the year before; but as the ene- 
my was much stronger, I had nothing to do 
but to cover all the places and the country 
on this side the Rhine. 

In order to render the possession of Philips- 
burg useless to him, I turned the course of 
three small rivers, which, instead of discharg- 
ing themselves into the Rhine, produced me 
a superb inundation from that fortress to 
Ettlingen, the lines of which thus covered 
were unassailable. 

Had I been able to leave them, having no 
longer to do with D'Asfeld, who had been 
succeeded by Coigny, I should have finished 



2S0 MEMOIRS OF 

my military career better than by the same 
passive kind of glory as the preceding year. 
I gave it some degree of activity by taking 
Trarbach, and delivering the electorate of 
Treves. Seeing that there was nothing more 
to be done* nothing to be gained, and much 
to be lost, as I had told Charles VI. fifty 
times, I was very glad at first to be recalled to 
Vienna, though I shrewdly suspected that this 
was my last campaign. It would be difficult 
for me to express what I felt on taking leave 
of my army. It was a. painful scene I assure 
you. An old soldier, only can know what it 
is to bid a last farewel to such brave fellows, 
whom lie has so often led to death, which I 
was desirous of meeting in so happy, speedy* 
and glorious a manner : 'tis the only favor 
God has refused me. With tears in my eyes 
I resigned the command to the Duke of 
Wurtemberg ; and on my arrival at. Vienna, 
I luckily found La Baume, the agent sent by 
Cardinal Fleury, to make very reasonable 
proposals. France had been rather humbled 
in Poland: her garrison of fifteen thousand 
men ad surrendered at Dautzic, and the 
father-in-law of Louis XV. had withdrawn 



PRINCE EUGENE. 381 

himself nobody knew whither. The Russians 
and Augustus III. triumphed, as might be 
expected ; and I taking advantage of the 
desire of Charles VI. to restore the extin- 
guished House of Austria, by marrying his 
daughter, Maria Theresa, to Prince Francis 
of Lorraine, we soon came to an understand- 
ing, and the preliminaries were signed. 

The day after this signature, I went to the 
emperor to congratulate him on having got 
out of such a scrape as this war, and entreated 
him to beware lest Russia should involve him 
in another with the Turks. I said to him : 
4f In proportion as one grows old, Sire, one 
ventures to speak the truth with greater 
boldness. Before we begin we ought to ask 
ourselves what we meanto do, what we are 
able to do ? You neither want, nor are you 
able, to take Widdin and Nissa, but you may 
I a liH^rade. The Bosniacs and the Servi- 
an* and the best of the Asiatics will be against 
you. Against the Russians there will be only 
Tartars, Arnauts, Christians, Greeks of the 
right bank of the Dniester, who, being separa- 
ted from them by deserts, will do them no 



23% MEMOIRS OF 

great injury. They may do you harm if they 
prove victorious. Part of your subjects are 
of their religion. Animosities will arise be- 
tween your two courts,, and ill-humour and 
distrust will prevail among the commanders 
of your two imperial armies. 

" You have nobodv to run about as I did 
when young, to all the courts to prevent the 
coalition from falling to pieces. The Ger- 
manic body is won by the gold or the seduc- 
tive influence of France. Make an enumera- 
tion of the inhabitants of your hereditary do- 
minions, that every district may be obliged to 
keep its regiment continually complete. For 
the interest of the Hungarians, and your own, 
prevent them from revolting, by making them 
pay regular taxes, and furnish a certain num- 
ber of recruits every year. You have no 
money, but by far too many civil servants ; 
have soldiers instead of counsellors. 

(S Purchase the King of Sardinia, Sire, that 
he may preserve Lombardy for you, and the 
maritime powers, that they may preserve 
the Low Countries; that is to say, give them, 



PRTNCE EUGENE. 233 

if necessary, one half of the revenues, that jou 
may receive the other without expence, and 
prevent France from gaining- such large 
acquisitions. Since your majesty has lost 
Philipsburg, make Lintz a fortress ; and 
secure, by force or other means, the 
Elector Bavaria, if France would attack 
you; and the Elector of ^ Saxony, in like 
manner, if the King of Prussia, who is per- 
ceptibly aggrandizing himself, gained by Car- 
dinal de Fleury, should threaten Bohemia. 
Make game of the Turks, and I promise your 
majesty a glorious reign, from the tranquil- 
lity which you will insure to your dominions." 
Such was my wish for this emperor. 

It belongs to history to judge whether I 
have finished well or ill. I know that since 
the year 1717, consequently for these eighteen 
years, I have fought no battles, but this was 
for want of men, money, allies, and influ- 
ence at court ( with pain I acknowledge it) ; 
and at length I caused peace to be restored 
to Earone, after two tolerable campaigns, in 
which, if I have not acquired honor, I have 
at least nothing to reproach myself with. 



234 



MEMOIRS OF 



It is said that during these two last cam- 
paigns, Gnido Stab renberg, who was natu- 
rally of Ms cousin Gundaeker's party, cla- 
mored a good deal against me. This reminds 
me of what Vilars said to me at Rastadt : 
" Our enemies are not in the field. Your's 
are at Vienna, and mine at Versailles. *' What 
is not a little diverting, is, that it is pretended 
that animosity originated in a foolish trick 
which is not at all like me, and which would 
have betrayed either insolence or bad taste, 
I had besides long given up the habit of 
laughing, and had even relinquished my little 
French peculiarities, in order to succeed the 
better at the gravest court in the world. 
Here is this paltry anecdote as I have heard it 
related. In my first campaign in Italy, on 
the emperor's birth-day, when I gave a grand 
dinner to all my generals, I am said to have 
directed crackers to be laid under Stahrenberg's 
chair, and at the moment when he was raising 
his glass to his lips to drink the emperor's 
health, the trumpets and other instruments 
which accompanied it gave the signal for the 
explosion. The company thought it was a 
mine ; and all ran away excepting the persoa 



PRINCE EUGENE. 235 

under whom was this little volcano. He 
finished his glass, and calmly set it down 
again on the tahle. Guido, enraged, it is said, 
at this trial of his courage, never for- 
gave mc for it. "What occasion could I have 
to douht it ? We have known each other 
ever since the siege of Vienna, when he was in 
the city as captain and adjutant to his cousin 
Rudiger. He is six years older than myself, 
and has always displayed the greatest talents, 
and the most exemplary valor, to which I 
willingly do justice. I scarcely ever see him, 
and as I imagine he possesses at present no 
more influence than I have, perhaps we are 
friends. Old generals who have been enemies 
to one another, are like women whose animo- 
sities subside at a certain age, because they 
cease to be of any sex. 

Of all the ministers Zinzendorf was the 
man to whose conversation I was most partial. 
" I will wager, 5 ' said I to him, cc that your 
Excellency will be of my opinion. We want 
no political sentences : the aspect of Europe 
char.. e that of a plain or a mountain, by 

the accidents oi light. People say, such a 



236 MEMOIRS OF 

kingdom is the natural enemy of another. 
No such thing ; if they are contiguous, the 
one should strive to secure the friendship, if 
not the alliance of the other, for its defence 
against some more distant power. Why 
after the peace of Rastadt did we not unite 
cordially with France? The party hostile to 
her in England had been crushed ; and we 
should have saved many millions of money 
and thousands of lives. When one cannot 
give law, one ought to think only how to avoid 
receiving it. But what is it that is called 
court-policy, reasons of state ? What but the 
personal interest either of the ambition or re- 
venge of the person in favor. This last mo- 
tive, Count, has I think, upon examining 
myself for instance, had some influence upon 
me as well as the first; and a desire of power 
and wealth gave a bias to Marlborough." 

te Which governments do you think the 
best?" said Zinzendorf to me. e{ You will 
take me for a tyrant," I replied, " when I tell 
you, a military government, Monsters are 
rare: why should the seven or eight thrones of 
Europe be just at this moment filled by such? 



PRINCE EUGENE. 237 

The monster king would be unjust and cruel 
only to his friends and those about him ; but 
he would not be so to the country-gentleman, 
to the citizen, to the peasant, whom he would 
govern by military laws, which are the clear- 
est and most prompt of any. Your Excellen- 
cy is an exception. But consider what I am 
going to have the honor to observe to you. 
The soldier is so weary of being cruel during 
war, that he ceases to be so in time of peace. 
I wish that every prime minister who decides 
between them had been in the service, that he 
might know what it is. He would consent to 
arbitrations, as in a law-suit, mediations, mo- 
derations, before he would determine to spill 
so much blood." " I confess/' said Zinzen- 
dorf, tc that the cardinals who have been mi- 
nisters have caused the shedding of a great 
deal, our good friend Fleury excepted, who 
has no inclination that way. I think it is ig- 
norance, le\ity, which is always cruel like in- 
fancy, that turn the scale in our councils in 
favor of war, more frequently than you brave 
men, who dread it for the sake of others, wish 
it for your own, and at the same time prevent 
or defer it as much as lies in your power." 



238 MEMOIRS OF 

f( The other day the emperor took me out a 
hunting with him, a thing without example 
in the Spanish- Austrian etiquette, which I 
find no fault with, because it is necessary for 
the sovereign to keep up his dignity in regard 
to the great, that the latter may keep up theirs 
in respect to the lower classes, and thus form 
as it were a cascade of consideration. Here is 
nearly what I said to him in the carriage. 
cc If your majesty were desirous of going to 
war again, I see no great generals to com- 
mand your armies. You must wait till they 
arise. Conigseg is a courtier, and Neiperg a 
wit rather than a general. Khevenhuller is 
the best of the three. The first is loved and 
esteemed; the second is more amiable, be- 
cause he is more piquant: he is feared on 
account of his highly diverting sarcasms and 
sallies; but he stands fire with admirable 
coolness. The third is more capable of direct- 
ing the marches, the encampments, the orga- 
nization and the movement of troops. Hild- 
burghausen has courage, but little judgment. 
As he has married my niece, people ima- 
gine that I have undertaken the office of 
his instructor. They do both of us too 



PRINCE EUGENE. 239 

much honor. He is called the while 
Eugene, because he is as fair as I am 
dark. I wish the Duke of Lorraine, your 
majesty's son-in-law, and his brother, Prince 
Charles (the one twenty-six, and the other 
twenty-two years of ace), bestowed more ap- 
plication on the subject. They possess ge- 
nius, valor tool believe, and will make them- 
selves adored. The second will have most 
talents. The princes of the blood, even with 
less merit than others, have superior advant- 
ages. Appointed at an early age to the com- 
mand of armies, they have more experience, 
and dare to be much more enterprizing. Try 
these last, Sire, perhaps you may find them to 
answer. Besides the others know no more of 
the matter than they/' I had never talked to 
him so long about business. He was not 
food of it any more than his father. It was 
always a very short audience or councils of 
conference. I like them much, because no 
one dares there give an opinion for which 
he has to blush, if he would not lose the es- 
teem of his neighbor, who is there obliged to 
give an account of his department. A sove- 
reign, difficult of access, is not on that account 



MO MEMOIRS OF 

beyond the reach of mean, disgraceful advice, 
informations, calumnies, and prejudices," 



Now I have nearly withdrawn from 



public life. I play at piquet every evening 
at Madame de Bathiany's, with Taroca, 
Windischgratz, and Tessin, the Swedish am- 
bassador. It is rather for the sake of con- 
versation. People are more talkative when 
they do not say Let us talk^ and round a card- 
table they are more at their ease ; otherwise 
games of commerce are extinguishers of soci- 
ety. In war, I prefer games of chance. At 
my head-quarters, those who won were put 
into high spirits, and those who lost fought 
better; 'tis soon over, and time is more valu- 
able than money. I am fond of the company 
of young people; they are more pure, not 
having been corrupted by intrigue. I often 
see the commander Zinzendorf, a man of en- 
larged understanding, and good company, and 
Frederic Harrach, who adds to these qualities 
considerable talents for business. I foresee 
that he will be raised to important posts., as 
will in war Dhaun and Brown. The first 
possesses most merit; the second will have 



PRINCE EUGENE. 241 

boldness ; and the last, superior talents for 
discipline and the essential details, without 
being trifling. Joseph Wenzl Liechtenstein is 
likewise a brave general, a good citizen, and 
a genuine nobleman. Seckendorf and Schmet- 
tau, with military qualities, depend rather too 
much on circumstances, 

Young Cobentzl, a man of great intel- 
ligence, often visits at Madame de Rathiany's. 
He one day said to her: "It is generally 
believed, madam, that you have married 
Prince Eugene." u I love him much too 
well for that," replied she; "I would rather 
have a bad reputation, than take away his., 
and thus abuse his age at seventy- two." 

Kaunitz, of the same age as Cobentzl, 
without possessing so much character, such 
readiness in conversation, will have enlarged 
views. Me has ju»t, noble, and profound 
ideas. I am almost as much attached to 
Madame Strattmann as to her sister, my 
mistress, as she is called. 

" If you were not religious, and I was five- 



242 MEMOIRS OF 

and-twenty, what would be the consequence ?'* 
said I one day to Madame de Bathiany. 
"Nothing/' replied she,, "things would be 
just as they are. I am religious, in the first 
place, because I love God, and because I 
believe and put my trust in him ; in the next 
place, this is a safe-guard of my peace, which 
would come to the aid of my wounded self- 
love, if I were to be forsaken; and then, that 
I may be able to scoff at women who have 
lovers. I am religious, because I have neither 
fear, nor hope^ nor desire, in this life; and 
because the good which I #o for the poor, 
from humanity, is of benefit to my soul. I 
am religious, because the wicked fear me, 
and are disgusting to me. I am religious, 
that I may not have occasion to be continually 
watchful of my reputation ; women who are 
not, dare not say or do any thing ; they are 
like thieves who think themselves pursued by 
the police wherever they go. But I detest 
those who assume the mask of piety, or are 
religious only on account of the immortality 
of the soul. Were mine to perish with me, 
I would nevertheless endeavor to be virtu- 
ous as I do at present. It is not so much for 



PRINCE EUGENE, ^ : > 

fear of God, as out of gratitude for bis favors, 
and love to him, that I am religious, without 

publicly proclaiming- it like those ladies who 
make a trade of the thing- to please the court, 
rather thau to please heaven." 

I have been happy in this life, and I wish 
to be so in the other. There are old dragoons 
Who will pray to heaven for me, and I have 
more faith in their prayers, than in those of 
all the old women of the court and of the 
city clergy. The fine music, whether simple 
or more obstreperous, of the divine service, 
delights me. The one has something religi- 
ous, which awes the soul ; the other reminds 
me, by the flourishes of trumpets and kettle- 
drums, which so often led my soldiers to 
victory, of the God of hosts who has blessed 
our arms. I have scarcely had time to sin ; 
but i have set a bad example, perhaps, with- 
out knowing it, by my negligence of the forms 
of religion, in which I have, however, inva- 
riably believed. I have sometimes spoken 
e\il of people, but only when I thought myself 
obliged to do so; and have said: " Such an 
one is a coward, and such an one a scoundrel.'' 
,. 9 



244 MEMOIRS OF 

I have sometimes given way to passion ; but 
who could help swearing to see a general or a 
regiment that did not do their duty, or an 
adjutant who did not understand one ? I have 
been too careless as a soldier, and lived like a 
philosopher. I wish to die as a christian. I 
never like swaggerers either in war or in re- 
ligion, and it is perhaps from having seen ri- 
diculous impieties like those of the French- 
men, of whom I have spoken on the one hand, 
and Spanish bigotries on the oiher, that I have 
always kept myself aloof from both. I have 
so often beheld death near at hand, that I had 
become familiar with him. But now it is no 
longer the same thing. Then I sought him, 
now I wait for him; and meanwhile I live in 
peace. I look upon the past as a pleasing 
dream. I go to court only on gala days, and 
to the theatre when there is an Italian opera, 
serious or comic, or a une ballet. If we had 
a French company, I would go to see Athalie, 
Esther, and Poli/encte. I are delighted with 
the eloquence. of the pulpit. When Bourda- 
loue inspires me with terror, Massillon fills 
me with hope. We were born in the same 
year, and I knew him on his entrance into the 



PRINCE EUGENE. 245 

world — a perfectly amiable man. Bossuet 

astonishes — Fenelon affects me. I saw them 

also in my youth ; and Marlborough and I 

paid the latter all possible honors when we 

took Cambrai. I have forgotten the epigrams 

of Rousseau, and even his ode for me ; but I 

read his psalms and hymns over and over 

again. I stiil retain my memory, as may be 

seen; and I think I have forgotten nothing 

except my enemies in this country, whom I 

forgive with all my heart. A foreigner, and 

successful!- — This was too much for them. 

My health is very good, considering my age 

of seventy-two years, the fatigues of I know 

not how many campaigns, and the effects of I 

can't tell how many wounds. The Chevalier 

Carelli, my physician and friend, furnishes me 

with a sure remedy for curing as he says the 

radical humidity, which he thinks somewhat 

Wasted. I have yet many things to do for 

the embellishment of my gardens and palace ; 

for instance, I mean to buy all the ground 

in ftuwt of that in which I live, and at which 

I have employed 6 f teen hundred workmen 

(because it was a time of dearth, and this was 

ficial to the city of ViennaJ, to form a 



^46 MEMOIRS OF 

fine square, with a splendid fountain in the 
middle. If I should live a little longer, I 
shall not fail to write down whatever I recol- 
lect, and what comes into my head, which is 
still pretty strong, though, to annoy me, 
people have asserted that my faculties were 
considerably decayed. It was once strong 
enough to prevent me from dying of vexation, 
as my friend Prince Louis of Baden did, about 
thirty years ago. I shrugged my shoulders 
at it, and kept on my usual course. For in- 
stance, if I were to interfere in public affairs, 
1 would say to the emperor : " Take all pos- 
sible precautions respecting your succession ; 
it will be involved in dreadful confusion. 
Two or three powers will lay claim to if. 
Prevent all this in your life-time. Here is an 
occasion for posting about as I did in my 
time to Munich, Berlin, London, the Hague." 
&c. The army and artillery are neglected. 
We snail not be capable of resistance, unless 
we contrive to prevent all that is likely to 
happen ; and unless, above all things, on the 
death of Charles VI. we refuse to go to war 
with the Turks. I wished prosperity to the 
House of Austria, which will soon be that of 



PRINCE EUGENE. 9A1 

Austria-Lorraine, and hope that it will ex- 
tricate itself from this embarrassment. I bare 
written enough to da;:, and will now mount 
my horse to go and look at a lion which ha3 
just arrived at my menagerie, on the road to 
Schwcikelt 



THE END. 



•. I LARKS, Printer, "Well-Street, London. 




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